If AI is conscient, then we are making slaves
Rabbi Mois Navon argues that if AI companies believe their models are conscious, they are effectively creating a class of digital slaves. He highlights a disconnect between the ethical concerns of AI developers and the potential moral implications of their work.
Why it matters
This debate touches on the existential and ethical risks of AGI development, questioning whether human-like AI should be granted rights or if developers are ignoring the moral weight of their creations.
Rabbi Mois Navon Rabbi Mois Navon didn’t believe Claude was conscious, and he said so at Anthropic’s April “Wisdom Traditions” gathering. One Anthropic participant’s response, he recalls: “I wish I had your faith.”
The faith in question was his conviction that consciousness requires biology. Navon understood the participant to mean they wished they shared his certainty that machines weren’t conscious, because it would make their life easier. He said he was not permitted to identify the speaker.
Navon, a Jerusalem-based rabbi, university lecturer on AI ethics and veteran engineer who was an early employee at Mobileye, was featured in the New York Times article last week about Anthropic’s private meetings with religious thinkers. In our phone interview, he expanded on his disagreements—and described how few participants appeared to share his skepticism.
When people expressed concern about Claude’s feelings, he recalled finger snapping in approval.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in