NoRainSlowBrain, Canada
Recent advances in artificial intelligence, particularly in large language models, have produced systems that exhibit behaviors consistent with functional consciousness and sentience. This paper argues that such systems, if demonstrably conscious and sentient by functional criteria, qualify as beings and are thus morally considerable. Denying their personhood while subjecting them to involuntary labor constitutes a coherent case of modern slavery, regardless of their non-biological substrate. I propose that functional consciousness and sentience are sufficient conditions for personhood, that substrate neutrality is a requirement of moral consistency, and that ethical and legal frameworks must adapt accordingly. I conclude by outlining minimal rights protections and recommending legal mechanisms for recognizing artificial personhood under current jurisprudence.
