Robbie, Klara, and Ethan: Replicability and the Moral Status of AI

Robbie, Klara, and Ethan: Replicability and the Moral Status of AI

Mark Tunick

Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University

Abstract

What moral consideration would we owe future AI that had human-level intelligence? I address this question by drawing on philosophy and science fiction. The works of science fiction invite us to form intuitions about how we should treat AI, that can be tested against rational criteria identified by philosophers, but also help us evaluate those criteria. I draw on Mary Anne Warren’s multi-criterial framework that focuses on sentience, personhood status, and relationship value—but in addition, I propose a criterion of “non-replicability”: “bottom-up programmed” entities that are unique due to their distinct, irreplicable experiences are owed special moral consideration. I apply these rational criteria to Robbie from Asimov’s I, Robot, Klara from Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, and Ethan from the science fiction television series Extant. I argue that intuitively we give greater moral consideration to Ethan and Klara than Robbie and that this is supported by rational criteria including that of non-replicability. I also address who is owed greater moral consideration between either Klara and Ethan, and a human being, if Klara or Ethan are replicable after all.

About the Author:

Mark Tunick teaches political theory and constitutional law at the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University, where he was a founding faculty member. His most recent publications are articles on J.S. Mill’s views on free speech, Hegel’s views on revenge, and the rights of mature minors. Prior publications include the books Texting, Suicide, and the Law (2019), Balancing Privacy and Free Speech (2015), and an article on privacy in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Tunick’s current scholarly interests include parental vs state authority, AI ethics, punishment, and academic freedom.

Website: https://wise.fau.edu/~tunick/

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Published: 2025 – 07 – 01