Artificial agency and moral agency. Conceptualizing the relationship and its ethical implications on moral identity formation

The paper aims to conceptualize the relationship between artificial agency, that is, the kind of agency connoting artificial intelligence (AI) systems, especially machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms, and moral agency, that is, the agency characterizing individuals as moral agents (persons), by highlighting its main ethical implications for moral identity formation. To this aim, after having unpacked the different forms of agency into question and clarified their main features, an ethical inquiry is carried out in order to show how artificial agency, as currently designed, not only interacts with, but it might also endanger the genuine development and expression of moral agency, by undermining individuals’ epistemic and moral autonomy. The paper concludes by showing the main consequences that might arise from this impact, in particular in relation to those processes of individual and collective moral self- representation that nurture and steer the genuine formation and the flourishing of moral identity.