Exploring the Association between Moral Foundations and Judgements of AI Behaviour

How do individual differences in personal morality affect perceptions and judgments of morally contentious behaviours from AI systems? By applying Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to the context of AI, this study sought to develop a predictive Bayesian model for assessing moral judgements based on individual differences in moral constitution. Participants (N=240) were asked to assess six different scenarios, carefully designed to elicit reflection on the behaviour of AI systems. Together, with results from the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, we performed both Bayesian modelling and reflexive thematic analysis to investigate the associations between individual differences in moral foundations and judgements of the AI systems. Results revealed a mild association between individual MFT scores and judgments of AI behaviours. Qualitative responses suggested a participant’s technical understanding of AI systems, rather than intrinsic moral values, predominantly influenced their judgments, with those who judged the behaviour as wrong tending to attribute a greater degree of agency to the AI systems.