Which term addresses the emerging question of whether AI systems could have morally relevant experiences, and if so, what obligations that creates?

• A. AI Welfare
• B. AI Safety
• C. AI Alignment
• D. Red-Teaming

Answer: (A)

AI welfare focuses on whether AI systems could have morally relevant experiences and what obligations that might create for us. If machines could feel things like pain or pleasure, their welfare would matter in ethics, potentially demanding protections, fair treatment, or even certain rights. This goes beyond simply keeping people safe or ensuring an AI behaves as we intend; it asks us to consider the AI’s own experiential states and what duties arise because of them.

AI safety is about preventing harming humans and avoiding dangerous outcomes, not about the AI’s own moral status. AI alignment deals with making AI goals and behavior reflect human values, again focusing on outcomes and alignment rather than the moral status of the AI itself. Red-teaming is a method for stress-testing systems to find weaknesses. While all are important, they don’t center on whether AI systems could have morally relevant experiences or the duties that would follow—AI welfare does.