Towards Artificial Wildlife: Speciesism and Intelligent Machines

Abstract

During the recent debates on the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), fears have been expressed about the possible dominance of intelligent machines over humans. In this article we explore the foundations on which this dystopian perspective of the threat to human sovereignty posed by the development of AI has been based. The research hypothesis is that the idea of the potential (future) supremacy of intelligent and ultraintelligent machines is based on the same intelligence-driven prejudice as represented by the theory of speciesism. If machines are seen as a new species, they not only differ from non-human animals but also follow a reverse course of development, regarding their relationship with man. Following this line of thought, we claim that a gradual ‘undomestication’ of machines is witnessed; a transition to a new state, which is further evidenced through the examination of the concepts of “autonomy” and “consciousness”. Finally, it is argued that the theoretical background to study and interpret scenarios about machine dominance over humans is already here. It is applied in the field of ethics and in particular, of environmental ethics.