Analyzing the Ethical Logic of Eight Large Language Models

2025/01/15 by W. Russell Neuman, Chad Coleman, Neuman, W. Russell +3 · 1 voice · 5 citations
Computer Science · Psychology · #Computer science #Epistemology #Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection #Linguistics #Philosophy #Psychology #cs.AI #cs.CY

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2501.08951

published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)

openalex publication_date 2025/01/15 · arxiv published 2025/01/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · arxiv updated 2026/07/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

This study examines the expressed ethical logic of eight prominent large language models from OpenAI, Meta, Perplexity, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, DeepSeek, and xAI. Each model answered direct questions about its ethical principles and responded to five classic moral dilemmas. Responses were analyzed using the consequentialist/deontological distinction, Moral Foundations Theory, and Kohlbergs stages of moral development. Across models, ethical judgments were broadly convergent and typically emphasized harm minimization, fairness, and contextual qualification. The models nevertheless differed in their willingness to decide, the rationales used to defend choices, and the relative weight assigned to rules, outcomes, role obligations, and interpersonal considerations. Their self-descriptions were erudite, cautious, and strongly shaped by a conversational persona. The analysis of self-reports has been central to the study of human psychology and communication. We propose, with appropriate cautions, it can enhance our understanding of how artificial intelligence works and how it may be able to augment human ethical behavior

Citations

• Looking Inward: Language Models Can Learn About Themselves by Introspection
• Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness
• Evaluating large language models in theory of mind tasks
• On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots
• Attention Is All You Need
• I.—COMPUTING MACHINERY AND INTELLIGENCE

Cited by

• Public acceptance of various ways to use and treat AI: A predictive moral framework
• "Amazing, They All Lean Left" -- Analyzing the Political Temperaments of Current LLMs
• The Convergent Ethics of AI? Analyzing Moral Foundation Priorities in Large Language Models with a Multi-Framework Approach
• Auditing the Ethical Logic of Generative AI Models

Discussions

• Analyzing the Ethical Logic of Six Large Language Models arxiv.org/abs/2501.08951 [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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