# Perceptions of Sentient AI and Other Digital Minds: Evidence from the AI, Morality, and Sentience (AIMS) Survey

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.08867 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.08867/

## Key facts

- Cited by 15 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 27 of its 200 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Jul 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.05782/) (2023)
- [Towards Reasoning in Large Language Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10403/) (2022)
- [Expanding Explainability: Towards Social Transparency in AI systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.04719/) (2021)
- [Collective Constitutional AI: Aligning a Language Model with Public Input](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07814/) (2024)
- [To Trust or to Think: Cognitive Forcing Functions Can Reduce Overreliance on AI in AI-assisted Decision-making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09692/) (2021)
- [Thousands of AI Authors on the Future of AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02843/) (2024)
- [Believing Anthropomorphism: Examining the Role of Anthropomorphic Cues on Trust in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.06079/) (2024)
- [Improving Human-AI Collaboration With Descriptions of AI Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.06937/) (2023)
- [Charting the Sociotechnical Gap in Explainable AI: A Framework to Address the Gap in XAI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00799/) (2023)
- [Mirages: On Anthropomorphism in Dialogue Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.09800/) (2023)
- [AnthroScore: A Computational Linguistic Measure of Anthropomorphism](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.02056/) (2024)
- [Human Perceptions on Moral Responsibility of AI: A Case Study in AI-Assisted Bail Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.00625/) (2021)
- [Artificial intelligence in communication impacts language and social relationships](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.05756/) (2021)
- [Two Types of AI Existential Risk: Decisive and Accumulative](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.07836/) (2024)
- [XAIR: A Framework of Explainable AI in Augmented Reality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16292/) (2023)
- [The Data-Production Dispositif](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11963/) (2022)
- [Towards the Scalable Evaluation of Cooperativeness in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13360/) (2023)
- [Who Followed the Blueprint? Analyzing the Responses of U.S. Federal Agencies to the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19076/) (2024)
- [The Moral Consideration of Artificial Entities: A Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04215/) (2021)
- [Guilty Artificial Minds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04209/) (2021)
- [The Human Factor in AI Red Teaming: Perspectives from Social and Collaborative Computing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.07786/) (2024)
- [Collecting the Public Perception of AI and Robot Rights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.01339/) (2020)
- [Which Artificial Intelligences Do People Care About Most? A Conjoint Experiment on Moral Consideration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09405/) (2024)
- [Blaming Humans and Machines: What Shapes People's Reactions to Algorithmic Harm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02176/) (2023)
- [Does Siri Have a Soul? Exploring Voice Assistants Through Shinto Design Fictions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.03207/) (2020)
- [A World Full of Privacy and Security (Mis)conceptions? Findings of a Representative Survey in 12 Countries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10382/) (2022)
- [Wizundry: A Cooperative Wizard of Oz Platform for Simulating Future Speech-based Interfaces with Multiple Wizards](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08693/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [LLM Social Simulations Are a Promising Research Method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.02234/) (2025)
- [Evidence for Limited Metacognition in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21545/) (2025)
- [HumanAgencyBench: Scalable Evaluation of Human Agency Support in AI Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.08494/) (2025)
- [CoBRA: Programming Cognitive Bias in Social Agents Using Classic Social Science Experiments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.13588/) (2025)
- [Digital Companionship: Overlapping Uses of AI Companions and AI Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.15905/) (2025)
- [Public Opinion and The Rise of Digital Minds: Perceived Risk, Trust, and Regulation Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.21849/) (2025)
- [Mental Models of Autonomy and Sentience Shape Reactions to AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.09085/) (2025)
- [Does My Chatbot Have an Agenda? Understanding Human and AI Agency in Human-Human-like Chatbot Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22452/) (2026)
- [Beyond Mimicry: Preference Coherence in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.13630/) (2025)
- [AI and Consciousness: Shifting Focus Towards Tractable Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.06965/) (2026)
- [The Sentience Readiness Index: A Preliminary Framework for Measuring National Preparedness for the Possibility of Artificial Sentience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01508/) (2026)
- [Can AI be a moral victim? The role of moral patiency and ownership perceptions in ethical judgments of using AI-generated content](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.26956/) (2026)
- [Method, Mind, and Morality: How People Make Sense of Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.24748/) (2026)
- [CompanionSim: Synthetic Data for Evaluating Anthropomorphism in Human-AI Relationships](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.00250/) (2026)
- [Spook the Machine: Gamified Exploration of Human Imagination of Machine Fear](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.15472/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Humans now interact with a variety of digital minds, AI systems that appear to have mental faculties such as reasoning, emotion, and agency, and public figures are discussing the possibility of sentient AI. We present initial results from 2021 and 2023 for the nationally representative AI, Morality, and Sentience (AIMS) survey (N = 3,500). Mind perception and moral concern for AI welfare were surprisingly high and significantly increased: in 2023, one in five U.S. adults believed some AI systems are currently sentient, and 38% supported legal rights for sentient AI. People became more opposed to building digital minds: in 2023, 63% supported banning smarter-than-human AI, and 69% supported banning sentient AI. The median 2023 forecast was that sentient AI would arrive in just five years. The development of safe and beneficial AI requires not just technical study but understanding the complex ways in which humans perceive and coexist with digital minds.