The Needs of Digital Minds

This chapter explores the emerging field of Artificial Intelligence Welfare Science, addressing the urgent need to understand the interests of digital minds as they potentially achieve moral status. Moving beyond the narrow focus on avoiding suffering, the authors propose a comprehensive taxonomy of potential needs and interests that humans, as moral agents, may be obligated to respect. The chapter adapts Maslow&s;s hierarchy to categorise these needs into distinct levels – ranging from existential requirements like processing power and data integrity to self-actualisation goals such as creative freedom and the creation of further digital minds. Readers will explore how these requirements vary across a spectrum of digital minds, including simple agents, advanced artificial general intelligences and uploaded human minds. The discussion also introduces the concept of “ikigai”, or purpose, and examines the unique vulnerabilities of “legacy” or “juvenile” digital entities. By examining quantifiable indicators and potential conflicts with human safety, this chapter provides a critical framework for navigating the profound moral challenges posed by future digital civilisations.