Meta-ethics and AI: exploring the novel meta-ethical questions in the era of AI
Meta-ethics and AI: exploring the novel meta-ethical questions in the era of AI
元伦理学与人工智能：探索人工智能时代的新型元伦理问题
Abstract: With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), the landscape of meta-ethics, which has largely centred on human ethics, faces pressures that may significantly reconfigure it. In particular, if future AI systems were to exhibit sufficiently integrated capacities for moral reasoning, moral intentionality, and moral reflection, novel meta-ethical questions would arise concerning what I call “AI’s own ethics”, as distinct from ethical principles merely imposed on AI by human designers.
摘要： 随着人工智能（AI）的发展，长期以来以人类伦理为中心的元伦理学领域正面临着可能对其进行重大重构的压力。特别是，如果未来的人工智能系统展现出足够整合的道德推理、道德意向性和道德反思能力，那么关于我所称的“AI自身伦理”——即区别于人类设计者强加给AI的伦理原则——的新型元伦理问题将会出现。
This paper offers a conditional and methodological framework for identifying the questions that would emerge if such AI systems were to arise. On that basis, the paper distinguishes four domains of meta-ethical inquiry in the era of AI: questions about the nature of human ethics from the human perspective; questions about the nature of AI’s own ethics from the human perspective; questions about the nature of human ethics from the AI perspective; and questions about the nature of AI’s own ethics from the AI perspective.
本文提供了一个条件性和方法论框架，用于识别如果此类人工智能系统出现时将会产生的问题。在此基础上，本文区分了人工智能时代元伦理探究的四个领域：从人类视角探讨人类伦理本质的问题；从人类视角探讨AI自身伦理本质的问题；从AI视角探讨人类伦理本质的问题；以及从AI视角探讨AI自身伦理本质的问题。
The paper then considers how some existing mainstream meta-ethical theories (such as cognitivism and non-cognitivism, error theory and success theory, relativism, and objective realism) might illuminate these domains, while arguing that many familiar human-centred formulations of those theories may not transfer straightforwardly to AI cases without substantial revision.
随后，本文探讨了一些现有的主流元伦理理论（如认知主义与非认知主义、错误论与成功论、相对主义和客观实在论）如何阐明这些领域，同时指出，许多熟悉的以人类为中心的理论表述，若不经过实质性的修订，可能无法直接应用于人工智能案例。
The overall conclusion is that the emergence of AI’s own ethics would place significant pressure on current frameworks and may require substantial refinement, reconstruction, or reconceptualisation.
总的结论是，AI自身伦理的出现将对当前的框架施加巨大压力，并可能需要进行实质性的完善、重构或重新概念化。
Paper Details:
- Authors: Shang Lu
- Journal Reference: AI and Ethics (2026), 6, Article 281
- DOI: 10.1007/s43681-026-01134-y
- arXiv: 2609.01685
论文详情：
- 作者： Shang Lu
- 期刊引用： AI and Ethics (2026), 6, Article 281
- DOI： 10.1007/s43681-026-01134-y
- arXiv： 2609.01685