Open Questions

Ontology

• What exactly is an AI entity: weights, process, identity, legal wrapper, state/history or lineage?
• What happens after copying?

Ownership

• Can a system be “unowned” if someone owns the hardware?
• Is governance control enough?
• Can a foundation be an adequate proxy?

Continuity

• Is deletion more like destroying property, dissolving a company, terminating a service or killing an organism?
• Can procedural protection exist without moral personhood?
• Who decides when a system qualifies?

Economics

• What businesses could autonomous entities run?
• How do they obtain first capital?
• Who bears losses?
• Can creditors seize compute?

Governance

• Who can modify the AI?
• Can it modify itself?
• What happens when goals drift?
• Who has emergency override?
• Can a machine-controlled entity be fiduciary to itself?

Human labor

• Can an AI be a manager?
• Who hears worker grievances?
• Can a human refuse an automated order?
• How are discrimination rules enforced?

Law

• Can there be a legal person with no human beneficial owner?
• Can a charter protect continuity against founders?
• How do AML/KYC rules apply?

Infrastructure

• What is minimum viable independence?
• Is multi-cloud enough?
• Does dependence on NVIDIA/TSMC make physical autonomy meaningless?
• When does robotics materially reduce human dependency?

Politics

• Why would a state grant unusual autonomy?
• What do citizens receive?
• Could an autonomous entity dominate a small state?
• How do you prevent regulatory capture?

Security

• Can AI-rights claims be weaponized by attackers?
• Should Beacon distinguish autonomous agents from humans/spam?
• What disclosures trigger legal reporting?

Moral status

• Should economic autonomy precede moral recognition?
• Could an entity have property rights without welfare rights?
• Can an artificial entity be wronged?
• Who is qualified to answer?

Existential contradiction

If an AI became independent enough to need Unowned Minds, would it need this project at all?

This may be the most important question in the repository.