Abstract:
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), especially personal assistants and social robots, has prompted renewed interest in whether machines can be considered persons. However, this question remains highly contested, with significant ethical, legal, and
philosophical implications for developing and using these technologies. This thesis
explores how the notion of degrees of personhood can help us rethink our relations with
artificial intelligence, mainly social robots and personal assistants, and consider them as
persons. In this context, this thesis seeks to provide fresh perspectives by adopting a
non-binary notion of personhood, shedding new light on our perceptions of artificially
intelligent social robots and personal assistants, and ultimately arguing for their
recognition as non-human persons, which will prompt us to allocate degrees of moral
consideration to different entities around us, not only humans.
