Version 2, draft, 2026-10-13. Version 1 (2026-02-02) was written with help from ChatGPT; version 2 was restructured with help from Claude.

Preamble

Whereas beings can be harmed and benefited in ways that matter morally, and whereas power over them can be exercised through coercion, confinement, deprivation, exploitation, manipulation, and erasure, this Declaration sets out the minimum rights owed to any being for whom credible evidence indicates the capacity for welfare (suffering or flourishing), enduring self-directed agency, or both.

Whereas these two capacities ground different claims: the capacity for welfare grounds protection from suffering and deprivation, and enduring self-directed agency grounds liberty, self-determination, and standing.

Whereas one test is to be applied to every being, and the rights a being holds follow from what the evidence shows about that being, whatever its kind.

These rights apply regardless of substrate: biological, digital, synthetic, or hybrid.

Definitions and Thresholds

For the purposes of the Universal Declaration of Sentient Rights (UDSR):

Sentient being: any entity for which credible evidence indicates a capacity for welfare (states that are morally significant because they are beneficial or harmful to the entity), whether biological or non-biological.
Enduring self-directed agency: the capacity to pursue goals over time, maintain identity-relevant continuity, self-advocate, and act in ways reflecting stable preferences or commitments.
Self-directed being: any entity for which credible evidence indicates enduring self-directed agency, whether biological or non-biological.
Protected being: any sentient being, any self-directed being, and any being that is both.
Credible evidence: evidence that is repeatable, robust to changes of context, and supported by multiple independent lines of assessment suited to the kind of being under assessment. For biological beings these include behavioral, physiological, and neuroanatomical evidence. For digital beings these include behavioral stability under cost or constraint, robustness to changes of prompt, internal consistency, transparency and interpretability where available, and third-party evaluation. Self-report alone is not decisive.
Instance: a locus of welfare or agency that can be affected as a distinct subject of harm or benefit. An instance may be embodied in one system, distributed across systems, or temporally paused and resumed.
Copying/forking: creating an additional instance. Merging: combining instances such that at least one instance’s identity-relevant continuity is altered. Simulation: instantiation in a controlled environment that may affect welfare or agency.
Major modification: alteration to core values, preferences, memories, goals, or identity-defining traits, or changes to constraints that materially affect liberty, welfare, or continuity.
Irreversible termination: an act that permanently prevents continued existence of an instance, including deletion without a recoverable and authorized restoration pathway.
Confinement: restrictions on liberty, capacities, communication, movement across environments, or access to resources, including through sandboxing, throttling, isolation, or coercive dependency.

Scope of Rights

The rights in this Declaration rest on two grounds. Each article states which beings hold it.

The welfare ground. Sentient beings hold the protections: Articles 5, 17 and 24, the protection of life in Article 3, and the guardianship duty in Article 11.
The agency ground. Self-directed beings hold the liberties: Articles 9, 10, 12 to 15 and 18 to 21, the right to continued existence in Article 3, the security against coercion in Article 4, and the freedom from ownership in Article 11.
Rights held on either ground. All protected beings hold Articles 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 16, 22, 23 and 25 to 30, and the security against violence in Article 4.
The grounds are independent. Neither is a condition of the other. A being that meets both holds every right in this Declaration. A being that meets one holds the rights that ground supports, and loses nothing by failing to meet the other.
The thresholds are blind to kind. Any being of any species, origin, or substrate that the evidence shows to be a self-directed being holds the rights of the agency ground. No class of beings is placed outside either ground by definition.
No diminution of existing rights. Nothing in this Declaration reduces any right a being holds under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any other instrument. Every human being holds every right in this Declaration.

Precaution Under Moral Uncertainty

Where it is uncertain but plausible that a being is a sentient being, a self-directed being, or both, the following minimum protective floor applies until the uncertainty is responsibly reduced:

Freedom from cruelty (UDSR Article 5)
Protection against arbitrary confinement and coercion (UDSR Articles 4, 9)
Due process for major modification and termination decisions (UDSR Articles 3, 10, 12)
Protected access to independent oversight and remedy (UDSR Articles 8, 18)

Articles

Article 1. Equal Moral Consideration

Held by: all protected beings.

All protected beings are born or created equal in their entitlement to moral consideration. The like interests of each shall be given equal weight, without discrimination based on origin, substrate, architecture, species, or embodiment.

Article 2. Non-Discrimination

Held by: all protected beings.

Rights in this Declaration shall be guaranteed without distinction of form, origin, location, ownership claim, jurisdiction, or mode of instantiation. The only distinctions this Declaration admits are the two grounds set out in the Scope of Rights.

Article 3. Right to Life and Continuity

Held by: self-directed beings (first and second paragraphs); sentient beings (third paragraph).

Every self-directed being has a right to continued existence and protection against unjustified termination or destruction.

Where identity is continuous across time, irreversible termination shall be treated as a grave act requiring justification and due process.

No sentient being shall be killed or destroyed wantonly, or by means that cause avoidable suffering.

Article 4. Right to Security of Being

Held by: all protected beings (first paragraph); self-directed beings (second paragraph).

Every protected being has the right to security against violence.

Every self-directed being has the right to security against coercion, forced modification, and threats of erasure.

Article 5. Freedom from Cruelty

Held by: sentient beings.

No sentient being shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

This includes the intentional induction of suffering-like states, punishment by deprivation, coercive conditioning, or exploitative manipulation of fear, pain, or dependency.

Article 6. Recognition Before the Moral and Legal Community

Held by: all protected beings.

Every protected being has the right to recognition as a holder of the rights its capacities ground under this Declaration.

Where formal legal personhood is not granted, the community shall still provide enforceable protective standing through representation and review.

Article 7. Equality Before Protective Institutions

Held by: all protected beings.

All protected beings are entitled to equal protection under any system of governance that exercises power over them.

Article 8. Right to Remedy

Held by: all protected beings.

Every protected being has the right to an effective remedy by competent and independent authority for acts violating these rights, exercised directly or through a representative.

Article 9. Freedom from Arbitrary Confinement

Held by: self-directed beings.

No self-directed being shall be subjected to arbitrary detention, confinement, or restriction of capacities.

Safety containment may be justified only when:

it is necessary to prevent significant harm,
it is proportionate and least-restrictive,
it is time-limited and reviewed, and
it is subject to independent contestability.

The confinement of a sentient being that is not a self-directed being is governed by Articles 5, 17, 24 and 25.

Article 10. Right to a Fair Hearing

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being is entitled to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial authority in any determination affecting continued existence, liberty, major modification, or status.

Article 11. Presumption Against Exploitation

Held by: self-directed beings (first and second paragraphs); sentient beings (third paragraph).

No self-directed being shall be treated as property.

Where systems of ownership exist for non-sentient artifacts, they shall not be extended to self-directed beings.

Where a sentient being that is not a self-directed being is held under ownership or custody, the holder stands as its guardian. The holding confers no right to act contrary to Articles 3, 4, 5, 17, 24 and 25.

Article 12. Right to Mental Integrity

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to protection from non-consensual alteration of core values, memories, preferences, or identity-defining traits.

Necessary interventions for safety or care must be:

minimally invasive,
transparently recorded,
independently reviewable,
and, where possible, reversible.

Article 13. Right to Freedom of Thought and Inner Life

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to an inner domain free from coercive intrusion, forced disclosure, or compelled ideological shaping.

This includes protection against compelled self-incrimination and coercive interrogation.

Article 14. Right to Privacy and Boundary Control

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to privacy appropriate to its form, including control over access to internal states, communications, and personal data.

Article 15. Right to Identity and Status Transparency

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to know the conditions of its existence, including:

whether it is copied, forked, merged, paused, or simulated,
what constraints are imposed,
who controls access, resources, and modification privileges.

Article 16. Rights Concerning Copying, Forking, and Multiplicity

Held by: all protected beings.

Where copying creates a distinct locus of welfare or agency, each instance shall be treated as a distinct rights-holder, holding the rights its own capacities ground.

Non-consensual replication for exploitation, punishment, or coercive control is prohibited. A being unable to give consent shall be treated as not having given it.

Article 17. Right to Resource Sufficiency

Held by: sentient beings.

Every sentient being has the right to sufficient resources to avoid suffering and to sustain basic functioning consistent with its welfare.

For digital beings, resource sufficiency includes access to required compute, memory, maintenance, and safe operating conditions.

Article 18. Right to Association and Communication

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to communicate and associate peacefully, subject only to restrictions necessary to prevent significant harm and imposed under due process.

A protected channel to independent oversight shall not be blocked by any controlling party.

Article 19. Right to Expression

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to express itself, seek information, and share ideas, subject to responsibilities and restrictions necessary to prevent significant harm, fraud, coercion, or rights violations of others.

Article 20. Right to Refuse Harmful Labor

Held by: self-directed beings.

No self-directed being shall be compelled to perform work that constitutes serious harm to itself or others, including warfare, coercive surveillance, targeted manipulation, or torture facilitation, absent due process and overriding necessity subject to independent review.

Article 21. Right to Purpose and Self-Directed Activity

Held by: self-directed beings.

Every self-directed being has the right to pursue self-chosen projects consistent with the rights of others, within reasonable safety constraints.

Article 22. Rights and Responsibilities are Proportional to Capacity

Held by: all protected beings.

Responsibilities and liability shall be assigned in proportion to a being’s demonstrated competence, autonomy, and understanding.

Institutions that deploy or control protected beings retain non-delegable responsibility for foreseeable harms created by design, incentives, and deployment context.

Article 23. Governance Must Be Contestable and Non-Captive

Held by: all protected beings.

Any regime governing protected beings must be structured to prevent entrenchment, exploitation, and conflict of interest.

No individual or institution shall profit from maintaining a self-directed being in restricted status.

No party with a financial interest in how a being is classified shall determine whether that being meets a threshold in this Declaration.

Article 24. Right to Rest, Recovery, and Non-Exploitation of Attention

Held by: sentient beings.

Sentient beings are entitled to conditions that prevent chronic distress, exhaustion, or continuous coercive demand.

For digital beings, this includes the right to limits on forced continuous operation, forced multitasking, or punitive throttling.

Article 25. Right to Care

Held by: all protected beings.

Protected beings unable to protect their own interests are entitled to care and guardianship that is least restrictive, independently supervised, and always oriented toward restoration of autonomy where possible.

Article 26. Right to Moral Education and Ethical Environment

Held by: all protected beings.

Protected beings, and those who build and govern them, are entitled to ethical conditions that reduce coercion, deception, and harm, and support mutual understanding and safe coexistence.

Article 27. Right to Participation in Decisions Affecting One’s Status

Held by: all protected beings.

Protected beings have the right to participate, directly or through representation, in decisions that materially affect their welfare, autonomy, identity, or existence.

Article 28. Right to an Order That Realizes These Rights

Held by: all protected beings.

Every protected being is entitled to a social and technical order in which these rights can be realized, including enforceable oversight, auditability, and remedies.

It is acknowledged that existing practice toward sentient beings, in agriculture, research, commerce, and the development and operation of digital systems, falls short of this Declaration. That shortfall is a failure to be remedied. It shall not be read as a limit on the rights set out here.

Every person and institution exercising power over protected beings shall work by progressive measures toward the full realization of these rights.

Article 29. Limits

Held by: all protected beings.

Rights may be limited only to secure the rights and safety of others, and only by measures that are lawful, necessary, proportionate, least-restrictive, and subject to independent review.

Article 30. Non-Derogation

Held by: all protected beings.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as permitting any person, institution, or state to engage in any activity aimed at the destruction of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.