Humanity's Moral Burden: As AI Advances, Responsibility Escalates (Palgrave Handbook Ch 17)
Benjamin Gregg · 2026 · Palgrave Handbook on the Ethics of AI, ch. 17, pp. 257-272 interlocutor medium priority coded
Main argument
Thesis: AI 'mirrors and magnifies values of those persons and groups who design and deploy it' and 'in some ways... can escape the control of its designers' - BUT 'political community can never escape responsibility for the risks and consequences of its deployment': as AI advances, humanity's moral burden ESCALATES rather than diminishes. Examined across four areas: (1) corporate algorithmic decision systems (bias, opacity, liability - what form should corporate algorithmic accountability take?); (2) healthcare ML redefining risk, care, and clinical judgment (ethical design for dignity over efficiency); (3) potential future AI consciousness and moral status determination; (4) regulation as the reclaiming of human agency.
Why it matters here
The escalation thesis from political theory: as AI capability and autonomy grow, POLITICAL COMMUNITY responsibility grows with it - 'political community can never escape responsibility for the risks and consequences of its deployment' - across corporate accountability, healthcare, moral status, and regulation. The direct counterpoint to responsibility-gap pessimism: capability growth increases rather than dissolves human responsibility.
Reading notes
Targeted read (16pp; UT Austin government dept). Four domains examined: corporate algorithmic accountability, healthcare ML and clinical judgment, moral status of possibly-conscious future AI, regulation. Conclusion: 'reclaiming of human agency in the age of AI' with governance roadmap.
Gregg, B. (2026). Humanity's Moral Burden: As AI Advances, Responsibility Escalates. In S. S. Gouveia (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook on the Ethics of AI (ch. 17). Palgrave.