Can AI systems have free will?
Quick summary
arXiv:2609.15407v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: While there has been much discussion of whether AI systems could function as moral agents or acquire sentience, there has been very little discussion of whether AI systems could have free will. I sketch a framework for thinking about this question, inspired by Daniel Dennett's work. I argue that, to determine whether an AI system has free will, we should not look for some mysterious property, expect its underlying algorithms to be indeterministic, or ask whether the system is unpredictable. Rather, we should simply ask whether we have good explan
Key takeaways
- arXiv:2609.15407v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: While there has been much discussion of whether AI systems could function as moral agents or acquire sentience, there has been very little discussion of whether AI systems could have free will.
- I sketch a framework for thinking about this question, inspired by Daniel Dennett's work.
- I argue that, to determine whether an AI system has free will, we should not look for some mysterious property, expect its underlying algorithms to be indeterministic, or ask whether the system is unpredictable.
Why it matters
“Can AI systems have free will?” illustrates how changes in the AI ecosystem can affect products, workflows and user expectations together. Its lasting significance depends on measurable adoption, cost and safety outcomes.
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