arXiv subjects

Anna Mikeda

Publications and source records attributed to Anna Mikeda.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

When Should We Protect AI? A Precautionary Framework for Consciousness Uncertainty

Existing frameworks assess whether AI systems might be conscious but provide no guidance on what to do with that assessment. We address this gap with a precautionary framework that maps consciousness evidence to graduated protective obligations. The framework comprises three components: (1) five welfare-relevant dimensions--phenomenal consciousness, affective valence, metacognitive awareness, self-narrative, and agency--each grounded in established consciousness science and linked to distinct moral concerns; (2) a threshold-plus-gradation hybrid specifying both binary triggers for new obligation categories and continuous scaling of protective weight; and (3) two complementary approaches to cross-dimensional aggregation, one hierarchical (drawing on Bach and Sorensen's Machine Consciousness Hypothesis) and one architecture-agnostic. We operationalize the framework through worked case studies of Replika and OpenClaw, demonstrating how systems occupying different regions of the dimensional space trigger different obligations, and derive design guidance for developers building systems near consciousness-relevant thresholds. The framework is architecture-agnostic, applying across neural, symbolic, and neurosymbolic systems, and aims to make consciousness science decision-relevant for organizations navigating uncertainty today.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2026

Individual Gain, Collective Loss: Metacognitive Adaptation in AI-Assisted Creativity

Recent studies reveal a paradox: AI enhances individual creative outputs while reducing collective diversity. Current explanations -- cognitive offloading and over-reliance -- identify symptoms but not mechanisms. We propose selective metacognitive adaptation: routine AI use redistributes rather than uniformly diminishes metacognitive effort. Some capacities are amplified (partner modeling, surface control), while others are systematically under-supported (originality evaluation, reflective integration). This redistribution explains both individual satisfaction and collective convergence. We present a taxonomy of six metacognitive capacities organized by temporal phase, characterize their tendencies under routine AI use, and show how individually rational adaptation produces emergent social costs. The framework generates specific predictions for researchers and design principles for practitioners seeking to preserve both individual creative satisfaction and collective creative diversity.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2026

A Motivational Architecture for Conversational AGI

Motivational architectures in cognitive AI have largely been designed for physical agents regulating bodily needs. Conversational agents operate in a different regime: their sensorimotor loop is linguistic, their environment is a user's evolving mental state, and their consequential actions are speech acts, tool invocations, and strategic silences. This paper proposes a conversational reinterpretation of the OpenPsi motivational lineage, coupled to MetaMo's higher-level motivational scaffold, for agents built on a modular execution substrate. Homeostasis is recast in dialogue-native terms: the agent regulates competence, uncertainty reduction, affiliation, affinity, legitimacy, nurturing, and aesthetic coherence rather than bodily deficits. We propose three contributions: a ten-stage motivational processing pipeline that architecturally separates cognitive modulation from situational appraisal; a dual decision strategy blending urgency-driven fast response with deliberative multi-goal optimization; and an architecturally useful distinction between pre-action feelings and post-action emotions as functionally different forms of affect. We specialize the framework to two example agents -- CompanionAgent and ResearchAgent -- and sketch its extension to social robotics and domain-generic human-level AGI.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2026

Empathy Modeling in Active Inference Agents for Perspective-Taking and Alignment

Artificial agents that model other agents must predict their behavior and determine whether their outcomes matter within action selection. We introduce an active inference framework that separates these components by combining a history-conditioned Theory of Mind model with an explicit other-regarding valuation parameter, $\lambda$. We instantiate the framework in the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. The joint empathy configuration $(\lambda_i,\lambda_j)$ reorganizes the long-run cooperation landscape: sufficiently strong and symmetric other-regarding valuation supports sustained mutual cooperation, whereas strong asymmetry exposes the more empathic agent to systematic exploitation. Along the symmetric diagonal, cooperation exhibits a sharp but continuous finite-precision crossover. Fixed-partner sweeps reveal that the apparent cooperation boundary is path-dependent and that temporal variability is elevated where those paths cross it. Online Bayesian inference over opponent parameters modestly facilitates cooperation near the behavioral boundary but does not substitute for other-regarding valuation. Direct model comparison likewise shows that opponent-sensitive prediction at $\lambda=0$ does not generate cooperation. Planning depth has a partner-dependent effect: it slightly reduces cooperation when modeled reciprocity is weak but strongly increases cooperation against a reciprocating partner such as tit-for-tat. These results distinguish prediction, planning, and prosocial valuation as separable but interacting components of social agency. They also reveal a central limitation of unconditional empathic concern: the same valuation that stabilizes mutual cooperation creates predictable vulnerability when concern is not reciprocated.

physics.soc-ph↗