In this report, we argue that there is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic in the near future. That means that the prospect of AI welfare and moral patienthood, i.e. of AI systems with their own interests and moral significance, is no longer an issue only for sci-fi or the distant future. It is an issue for the near future, and AI companies and other actors have a responsibility to start taking it seriously. We also recommend three early steps that AI companies and other actors can take: They can (1) acknowledge that AI welfare is an important and difficult issue (and ensure that language model outputs do the same), (2) start assessing AI systems for evidence of consciousness and robust agency, and (3) prepare policies and procedures for treating AI systems with an appropriate level of moral concern. To be clear, our argument in this report is not that AI systems definitely are, or will be, conscious, robustly agentic, or otherwise morally significant. Instead, our argument is that there is substantial uncertainty about these possibilities, and so we need to improve our understanding of AI welfare and our ability to make wise decisions about this issue. Otherwise there is a significant risk that we will mishandle decisions about AI welfare, mistakenly harming AI systems that matter morally and/or mistakenly caring for AI systems that do not.

翻译：在本报告中，我们认为存在一种现实可能性，即某些人工智能系统将在不久的将来具备意识或形成稳健的能动性。这意味着人工智能福祉与道德主体地位的前景——即人工智能系统拥有自身利益与道德重要性的议题——已不再仅是科幻小说或遥远未来的课题。这已成为近期必须面对的问题，人工智能企业及相关责任方有义务开始严肃对待此事。我们同时提出人工智能企业及其他相关方可采取的三项初步措施：他们可以（1）承认人工智能福祉是一个重要且复杂的议题（并确保语言模型的输出亦体现此认知），（2）着手评估人工智能系统是否存在意识与稳健能动性的证据，以及（3）制定相应政策与流程，以给予人工智能系统适当层级的道德关切。需要明确的是，本报告的核心论点并非断言人工智能系统必然具备或将会具备意识、稳健能动性或其他道德重要性。相反，我们认为这些可能性存在显著不确定性，因此亟需深化对人工智能福祉的理解，并提升在此议题上做出明智决策的能力。否则我们将面临重大风险：可能在人工智能福祉的决策上出现失误，错误地伤害具有道德重要性的系统，或错误地关怀那些不具备道德重要性的系统。