Ethicists, policy-makers, and the general public have questioned whether artificial entities such as robots warrant rights or other forms of moral consideration. There is little synthesis of the research on this topic so far. We identify 294 relevant research or discussion items in our literature review of this topic. There is widespread agreement among scholars that some artificial entities could warrant moral consideration in the future, if not also the present. The reasoning varies, such as concern for the effects on artificial entities and concern for the effects on human society. Beyond the conventional consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethicist ethical frameworks, some scholars encourage “information ethics” and “social-relational” approaches, though there are opportunities for more in-depth ethical research on the nuances of moral consideration of artificial entities. There is limited relevant empirical data collection, primarily in a few psychological studies on current moral and social attitudes of humans towards robots and other artificial entities. This suggests an important gap for psychological, sociological, economic, and organizational research on how artificial entities will be integrated into society and the factors that will determine how the interests of artificial entities are considered.

伦理学家、政策制定者和公众都质疑机器人等人工实体是否需要权利或其他形式的道德考虑。迄今为止，关于该主题的研究很少有综合性的。我们在对该主题的文献回顾中确定了 294 个相关的研究或讨论项目。学者们普遍认为，一些人造实体在未来可能需要道德考虑，如果不是现在的话。推理各不相同，例如关注对人工实体的影响和关注对人类社会的影响。除了传统的后果论、道义论和美德伦理学的伦理框架之外，一些学者还鼓励“信息伦理”和“社会关系”的方法，尽管有机会对人工实体的道德考虑的细微差别进行更深入的伦理研究。相关的经验数据收集有限，主要是关于人类当前对机器人和其他人造实体的道德和社会态度的一些心理学研究。这表明心理学、社会学、经济和组织研究在人工实体如何融入社会以及决定如何考虑人工实体利益的因素方面存在重要差距。