Dr Paula Sweeney

Biography

Paula Sweeney is a philosopher working on digital persons and the ethics of emerging technologies. Her research examines how artificial agents acquire individuality, irreplaceable value and social standing, and how technological change reshapes our moral concepts, relationships and institutions.

Her current work focuses on personal avatars, digital personhood, and the distribution of the benefits and burdens of AI-driven technological progress.

External Memberships

In recent years I have been a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, an elected board member of the British Philosophical Association and an appointed trustee of the trust associated with Thought: A Journal of Philosophy. 

I have served as external examiner at Lancaster University and the University of St Andrews.

Prizes and Awards

I was co-investigator on the Leverhulme Trust funded project, Relativism and Rational Tolerance, with Professor Crispin Wright. 

Research Overview

Paula Sweeney is a philosopher working on digital persons and the ethics of emerging technologies. Her research examines how artificial agents acquire individuality, irreplaceable value and social standing, and how technological change reshapes our moral concepts, relationships and institutions.

Her current work focuses on personal avatars, digital personhood, and the distribution of the benefits and burdens of AI-driven technological progress.

Current Research

Paula is currently working on a monograph to be published by Bloomsbury. It explores the question of what an individual should do when their own values or livelihood are threatened by advances in technology that they are in a position to recognise will bring substantial benefits to others. 

Recently Paula has been working on AI Avatars--particularly avatars that seek to represent or 'duplicate' real-life individuals.  She has a number of publications in this area, some exploring use cases and others exploring more abstract philosophical questions such as the impact of personal avatars on the value of personhood and uniqueness. 

Her research on avatars builds on her work on social robots. Her monograph, Social Robots: A Fictional Dualism modal was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2023. The monograph is a book-length study of her theory of social robots. The theory proposes that when we engage with social robots the emotional response that we have is closer in kind to the response that we have towards fiction than it is to how we respond to persons. 

Please see the Publications tab for more of Paula's research. 

Funding and Grants

I was a co-investigator on the Leverhulme funded Relativism and Rational Tolerance (£250K). 

Teaching Responsibilities

Undergraduate Teaching

Philosophy of Virtual Worlds

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Persons and the Self

Masters Teaching

Legal and Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence.

Philosophy and Society