White Paper: The Ghost in the Machine – Exploring AI Personhood and Policy

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems continue to expand into new domains of reasoning, thought, and expression. The latest public concern over AI technologies focuses on large language models (LLMs) and their ability to generate seemingly original, logical, and well-organized writing on almost any imaginable topic and in a vast number of styles and forms.

While the consensus among AI researchers is clearly that no current system is sentient, there is also strong belief among current researchers that AI systems will become as intelligent as humans by 2075.

Recognizing that the evolution of public perception (regardless of expert opinion) often drives public policy development, ATARC’s AI and Data Policy Working Group has prepared this report to serve as a discussion of AI personhood, its meanings, and its potential impacts on society.