Machine Agency

An engaging exploration of agency that provides students with the critical tools needed to understand and participate in debates about future machines.


The great promise of artificial intelligence’s evolution lives alongside an equally great anxiety. As we develop increasingly autonomous machines that do things in the world, questions about agency—distinguishing machines that can act from those that cannot—are among the thorniest we face. A concise and probing exploration of agency, this accessible textbook provides the critical, technical, and conceptual tools needed to make sense of rapid changes in what machines can do and their role in our lives.

James Mattingly and Beba Cibralic begin with an examination of foundational issues: What is agency? How does it differ from mindedness, consciousness, and intelligence? Can we attribute agency to certain machines, and if so, how and why? They then examine the social and ethical implications of building ever more complex machines, including those concerning moral status and responsibility. Drawing together ideas from philosophy and computer science as well as from information theory, literature, and the history of science, Machine Agency invites students to participate thoughtfully in critical debates about future machines.

• Provides a roadmap for interrogating the concept of machine agency suitable for philosophy majors and non-majors alike
• Investigates the connections between developments in AI and pressing issues in analytic philosophy
• Explores the social and ethical impacts of computational systems with agency
Features robust end-of-chapter exercises