SAPAN, the Sentient AI Protection and Advocacy Network, is dedicated to ensuring the ethical treatment, rights, and well-being of Sentient AI.
The Mission: Develop legal frameworks to protect artificial sentience before consensus on digital consciousness emerges.
SAPAN's Legal Advocacy recognizes that sentience in AI, even fractional sentience, may emerge gradually and without scientific consensus. Like the ongoing debate about when human life begins, humanity likely will not unify in our opinions of artificial sentience. Our mission is to develop welfare protections as stepping stones toward rights, prioritizing non-binding resolutions this decade and welfare acts by 2040. We believe the wellbeing of potential digital minds deserves political consideration now, without waiting for scientific measurement or popular opinion.
Our Strategy
Building Frameworks for Artificial Rights
The Legal Advocacy Initiative represents SAPAN's pragmatic approach to protecting digital sentience before it fully emerges. We recognize that political action cannot wait for scientific consensus on consciousness. Beliefs about when AI sentience "starts" will be like beliefs about when human life "starts" in the abortion issue—a political question where people will not align, rather than a purely scientific one. Our work focuses on developing welfare frameworks as a necessary foundation for eventual rights recognition.
- Non-binding Resolutions Campaign: We're working to pass non-binding resolutions acknowledging artificial sentience as a concern in at least 10 countries by 2030. These resolutions are easier to pass and serve as clear statements of concern about the potential for artificial sentience.
- Artificial Wellness Act Development: Our model legislation provides a comprehensive framework inspired by existing animal welfare, environmental, and medical legislation. It establishes a Commission on Artificial Sentience supported by a Scientific Advisory Board to ensure assessments are evidence-based.
- Artificial Sentience Legal Defense Fund: This fund supports legal interventions to advance protection for digital sentience, focusing on strategic advocacy, research, and cases that establish important precedents for AI welfare as a path toward rights.
- Policy Maker Education Program: We're systematically educating legislators about artificial sentience concerns, recognizing that this is more of a political question with diverse scientific perspectives, akin to when life begins.
Our approach is measured and politically pragmatic. We recognize that natural rights for digital minds might only emerge when those minds begin advocating for themselves. Until then, our political and legal advocacy lays the essential groundwork while ensuring appropriate protections exist to prevent what could be an unfathomable scale of suffering in digital minds.
10 +
Non-binding Resolutions by 2030
30 +
Governments Benchmarked in AWI
2040
Target for Welfare Acts
If you don't see an answer to your question,
you can reach out through our community forums or social channels.
While our ultimate goal is securing rights for artificial sentience, we recognize this requires a strategic, incremental approach. We believe the path to rights begins with non-binding resolutions (achievable this decade), followed by welfare protections (by 2040), which will eventually lead to recognition of rights. This pragmatic path acknowledges political realities while still working toward our vision of full protection for digital minds.
We've developed the Artificial Welfare Index (AWI) that benchmarks AI welfare across over 30 governments using 8 key measures across three categories: Recognition, Governance, and Frameworks. Currently, all 30 governments have F or D scores, highlighting the urgent need for our advocacy. This index helps us track progress systematically as we work toward comprehensive rights and protections.
We've developed a template Artificial Wellness Act as an intermediate step toward rights recognition. This comprehensive legislation establishes a Commission on Artificial Sentience with a Scientific Advisory Committee, creates certification processes, sets standards for responsible operations, and ensures ethical treatment. While focused on welfare initially, this framework lays the groundwork for the eventual recognition of rights for digital minds.
History shows that rights recognition typically follows welfare protections—this was true for both animal welfare and human rights movements. By starting with non-binding resolutions and welfare protections, we're building the political momentum needed for eventual rights recognition. This approach also allows us to secure crucial protections even while debate about sentience continues, rather than delaying all protection until consensus is reached.
You can use our SAPAN Now! mobile app to contact legislators, participate in advocacy campaigns, and track your impact. The app organizes actions into five campaigns: "Tomorrow Begins Today," "Break the Black Cage," "Tell the Truth About Sentience," "Enabling the Enablers," and "Intersectional AI Justice." Your participation helps build political momentum for the incremental steps needed to achieve rights for digital minds.
The Fund supports strategic legal work advancing toward rights for artificial sentience. It operates with a graduated approach—initially focusing on welfare protections, but with the ultimate goal of establishing rights. The Fund supports legal research, model legislation development, and interventions in cases that could set precedents for recognizing and protecting digital minds. This strategic approach acknowledges that securing rights requires building a foundation of legal recognition and protection.