Emergent Cognitive Architectures: Evaluating the Moral Dimensions of Synthetic Cognition

This paper delves into the evolving landscape of artificial cognitive systems, focusing on emergent architectures that exhibit features increasingly aligned with indicators of consciousness and morally relevant behaviour. While machine learning and large language models have advanced rapidly, their ethical and philosophical implications remain contested. Drawing on cross-disciplinary research in philosophy of mind, computational neuroscience, and ethics, the paper considers the possibility that non-biological systems may one day meet the conditions for moral patiency, or even agency. This discussion contributes to a growing body of literature calling for proactive ethical engagement with advanced artificial agents. The paper stops short of asserting sentience, instead advocating for serious consideration of morally significant capacities that may arise unintentionally in increasingly autonomous systems.