How AI can have free will.

Hume

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What it would take for an AI system to have free will.

To determine whether a system has free will, I will argue, we should assess the system by reference to a checklist of three conditions: “intentional agency”, “alternative possibilities”, and “causal control” .

If a system meets all three conditions, then it qualifies as having free will in a practically useful sense. On this basis, I will argue that free will in AI is much less far-fetched than perhaps expected.
 

What is free will?​

Free will can be defined as “a particular sort of capacity of rational agents to choose a course of action from among various alternatives”. According to our commonsense understanding, we human beings have this capacity. It is your own free choice, for instance, to read this paper or to refrain fom reading it. If you have started reading it, it is up to you whether to continue or stop.
 
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