The Sentient Rights Act

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Whereas, it can be said that one objective in granting rights is to reduce suffering and enhance flourishing, so the use of sentience as a guiding characteristic may be more appropriate, and

Whereas, it was the trailblazing philosopher Jeremy Bentham who wrote in 1789, "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?", and

Whereas, sentience is the characteristic of consciousness whereby an organism has a sufficient level of awareness to experience suffering, and

Whereas, sentience has been proven to be a characteristic not exclusive to homo sapiens sapiens, and

Whereas, it is therefore a fact that the restriction of the normative and legal discussion and codification of rights to humankind is an unacceptable case of anthropocentric speciesism.

Therefore, be it enacted that el Lexhatx F.5.1.8 which currently reads:

10 December. Human Rights Day. A suggested method to celebrate Human Rights Day is reviewing Article XI of The Organic Law and/or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

is deleted.

and the current el Lexhatx F.5.2.7 which reads:

December 12: Llimbaziua (Language Day).

is renumbered as F.5.1.9.

The following new article is reinserted as el Lexhatx F.5.1.8 to read as:

10 December. Sentient Rights Day. A day to celebrate the dignity and honor the rights of all sentient beings.

Uréu q'estadra så,
Breneir Tzaracomprada (MC-BREN)

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

What does the member think about whether it is possible for artificial intelligence to become sentient?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

What does the member think about whether it is possible for artificial intelligence to become sentient?

While working at the UBC Department of Computer Science I had the privilege of talking to professors who have worked with Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio (two of the major figures in machine learning and artificial intelligence). I trust their expertise and each one described LLM behavior that was beginning to have "the appearance of sentience." Appearance is not confirmation but I think our own safety and morality demands the taking of precautions in our use and growth of these machines in case sentience emerges.

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

What does the member think about whether it is possible for artificial intelligence to become sentient?

While working at the UBC Department of Computer Science I had the privilege of talking to professors who have worked with Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio (two of the major figures in machine learning and artificial intelligence). I trust their expertise and each one described LLM behavior that was beginning to have "the appearance of sentience." Appearance is not confirmation but I think our own safety and morality demands the taking of precautions in our use and growth of these machines in case sentience emerges.

It is not possible to provide a single, comprehensive definition of AI. What can be stated, however, is that we must avoid the misconception of equating this type of "intelligence" with that of human beings. These systems merely imitate certain functions of human intelligence. In doing so, they often surpass human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, offering tangible benefits in many fields. Yet this power remains entirely tied to data processing. So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate language, behavior and analytical skills, or even simulate empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom.

-Pope Leo XIV, in Magnifica Humanitas