I introduce a distinction between “slow and relatively harmonious” and “fast and radical” as far as the integration of AI into human life is concerned. Regarding the “slow and relatively harmonious” scenario, I explore a set of questions about how it would make sense for humans to acknowledge some such status in machines. But we must also ask whether self-conscious artificial intelligences would be morally equivalent to humans. I do so by asking what an increase in moral status for machines means for the political domain. Chapter 3 explored why AI would affect the democratic process in the near future. Here our concern is with a scenario further along. One question is whether there is a cognitive capacity beyond intelligence and self-consciousness that is needed for involvement in the political domain. Paying attention to what is appropriate to say about animals in that regard is useful. As far as the “fast and radical” scenario is concerned, I first explore why philosophically we are so dramatically unprepared to deal with an intelligence explosion, with a focus on what kind of moral status superintelligences might acknowledge in us. Finally, I attend to Tegmark’s discussion of political scenarios that could arise after an intelligence explosion and add a public-reason scenario that could offer a vision for a political context shared between humans and superintelligences.

Over the coming decades, artificial intelligence and robotics will continue to grow rapidly in power and scope, exerting a transformative impact on our lives. Seven trends are likely: the machines will become progressively more versatile and multifunctional in their capabilities; they will be designed to improve their own software and hardware over time, as they interact with their environment; the line between AI and robots will gradually blur, as machines come to permeate our society at all levels; these machines will be entrusted with complex practical tasks that require them to develop sophisticated commonsense knowledge about the human social world; the machines will be interconnected in functional networks that multiply their powers; such machines will need to be able to refuse to obey certain kinds of human commands, raising fundamental questions about who controls their actions; and the logic of arms races will apply to such machines, impelling nations and corporations to develop increasingly powerful machines as quickly as possible, with only a secondary concern for caution and safety.