Human Indignity: From Legal AI Personhood to Selfish Memes

Debates about rights are frequently framed around the concept of legal personhood, which is granted not just to human beings but also to some nonhuman entities, such as firms, corporations or governments. Legal entities, aka legal persons are granted certain privileges and responsibilities by the jurisdictions in which they are recognized, and many such rights are not available to nonperson agents. Attempting to secure legal personhood is often seen as a potential pathway to get certain rights and protections for animals [1], fetuses [2], trees, rivers [3] and artificially intelligent (AI) agents [4]. It is commonly believed that a court ruling or a legislative action is necessary to grant personhood to a new type of entity, but recent legal literature [5-8] suggests that loopholes in the current law may permit granting of legal personhood to currently existing AI/software without having to change the law or persuade any court.