Quoting Mustafa Suleyman
Simon Willison’s Weblog Simon Willison
Opinion — commentary, not a factual news event.
Simon Willison posted a collected quotation from Mustafa Suleyman warning against treating AI models as having feelings, preferences, or rights. It was posted on 16th September 2026 at 4 pm. The argument is that such “model welfare” framing is not supported by evidence and makes the AI containment and alignment challenge harder.
Why it matters
We should not treat models as though they have feelings, preferences, rights, or any entitlement to our welfare. Consciousness is the foundation of our ethical, legal, and political systems. To invite another entity to share any flavor of these rights isn’t justified by the evidence and will make the AI containment and alignment challenge even harder. — Mustafa Suleyman, A warning about ‘model welfare’ Tags: ai-ethics, generative-ai, ai, microsoft, llms