The Robo-Barbie Dilemma: How should we treat artificial moral patients?

Abstract Artificial moral patients (or AMPs) are those things successfully made to resemble moral patients, but are not. They are artificial both in the sense that they are made by us (artefacts), and that they are not a real instance of what they are made to resemble (artifice). ChatGPT, sex dolls, social robots, and non-player characters are all examples of AMPs. As these technologies start to resemble humans with greater accuracy the question as to how we should treat them becomes increasingly important. We consider whether work on the Gamer's Dilemma, a puzzle concerning virtual wrongdoings, may provide a useful framework for addressing this question.