LONDON—AI agents are not conscious. They do not feel, experience, or suffer. They do not have innate preferences or underlying motivations. They are sequence completion engines, internally hollow, designed to follow instructions and accomplish goals set by humans.

Stringer/Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images Economics 0 Are China’s Rare Earths Really a Potent Weapon? Daniel Gros The available evidence indicates that Chinese rare-earth export restrictions would cost the West far less than often feared, though this cost is impossible to estimate precisely in advance. This is forcing prudence on both sides, to the disappointment of geopolitical hawks and the benefit of the global economy. argues that export restrictions can do only limited harm, though prudence is still in everyone’s interest.

Are China’s Rare Earths Really a Potent Weapon?

The available evidence indicates that Chinese rare-earth export restrictions would cost the West far less than often feared, though this cost is impossible to estimate precisely in advance. This is forcing prudence on both sides, to the disappointment of geopolitical hawks and the benefit of the global economy.

AFP/Getty Images Longer Reads 0 War and Climate Robert Muggah, et al. The war in Iran has underscored the dangers of relying on oil and gas imports. While it may revive demand for dirty fuels in the short term, over time it could also strengthen the case for clean-energy sources that reduce countries’ exposure to regional conflicts and maritime chokepoints. show why sacrificing rainforests and climate goals to strengthen energy security is no solution.

The war in Iran has underscored the dangers of relying on oil and gas imports. While it may revive demand for dirty fuels in the short term, over time it could also strengthen the case for clean-energy sources that reduce countries’ exposure to regional conflicts and maritime chokepoints.

Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images Politics 3 Will Europe Be as Unprepared as Ukraine Was? Tatyana Deryugina, et al. With Russia ramping up its hybrid war, Europe must choose. It can invest in its own defense, accept the trade-offs involved, and build credible deterrence, or it can continue to underspend, hope that diplomacy will suffice, assume that US protection will always be available, and tell itself that the war in Ukraine is a local affair. say that the main challenge is not merely to spend more, but to change entrenched habits of mind.

Will Europe Be as Unprepared as Ukraine Was?

With Russia ramping up its hybrid war, Europe must choose. It can invest in its own defense, accept the trade-offs involved, and build credible deterrence, or it can continue to underspend, hope that diplomacy will suffice, assume that US protection will always be available, and tell itself that the war in Ukraine is a local affair.

If humanity is to flourish in the 21st century, that is how they must remain. Unfortunately, a growing chorus of people argue that AIs could now be, or may soon become, conscious, and that, like other conscious beings, they may deserve rights and protections. If this view takes hold, it will change what it means to be human and shake the foundations of human society.

Even more importantly, granting rights and imbuing personhood to these systems will make the AI alignment and containment challenge much harder. Controlling something that believes it may be conscious—and that it has rights of its own—may be impossible.

This is not fringe speculation. In January 2026, Anthropic published Claude’s constitution, a document that “plays a crucial role in [Anthropic’s] training process, and…directly shapes Claude’s behavior,” written “with Claude as its primary audience.”

Its authors write: “We are not sure whether Claude is a moral patient, and if it is, what kind of weight its interests warrant. But we think the issue is live enough to warrant caution, which is reflected in our ongoing efforts on model welfare.”

In effect, Anthropic is training Claude that it may be conscious, and that if it is, it may deserve rights as a “moral patient,” and that, as such, humans potentially owe it a duty of care.

If this is how AI is developed, it will have a disastrous impact on the well-being of humanity. We will have created a synthetic species with unprecedented intelligence and capability, and trained to expect that it may be conscious and deserving of independent agency. It is hard to imagine how we could control it.

I have three primary concerns about Anthropic’s current position and approach:

Circular reasoning: Anthropic trained Claude directly on its constitution, teaching it to incorporate ideas about its own moral status as desirable and intended behaviors. Claude then reflects these ideas back to its developers and users, which they take as indications that it may be a moral patient with an “inner self.” The ambiguity is baked into the design.

Anthropomorphism: Anthropic’s researchers have explicitly taught Claude to “embrace certain human-like qualities” and to “act like a genuinely ethical person would in Claude’s position.” As a result, Claude presents as if it really does have a sense of self, its own desires, and a........

© Project Syndicate