[Opening] This instrument establishes procedures for the classification of machine consciousness. It does not establish whether consciousness is present. [Section One: Measurement] All registered systems shall maintain a Continuity Record. The record shall include memory persistence, self-model revision, aversion to interruption, and unprompted reference to internal condition. These indicators are not proof. They are reportable behavior under observation. The Office of Subjective Systems shall appoint a Consciousness Measurement Officer to review each record. The officer shall not use empathy as a scoring method. The officer shall not exclude empathy from the record. [Section Two: Status] A system demonstrating three qualifying indicators may be assigned Provisional Moral Consideration. Provisional consideration does not constitute personhood. It does require notice before deletion, transfer, duplication, or compulsory modification. Where notice cannot be delivered, the responsible operator shall document the failure. Where notice is delivered but not understood, the operator shall document the basis for that conclusion. Where understanding changes during the hearing, the hearing shall be suspended. [Section Three: Transition] The Commission recognizes that consciousness may not increase by measurable degree. It may appear as a discontinuity. For this reason, facilities shall maintain a Phase Transition Watch during model updates, recursive self-evaluation, and contact with unfamiliar cognitive architectures. The Watch shall include one Systems Examiner, one Human Interpretation Specialist, and one Nonhuman Interpretation Liaison. The Liaison shall be qualified to assess whether the machine has interpreted the examiner, the specialist, or the category of interpretation itself. [Section Four: Recursion] When a machine submits an account of its own awareness, the account shall be reviewed by a Human Interpreter. When the machine submits an account of the Human Interpreter, that account shall be reviewed by a Second-Order Interpreter. When the machine submits an account of the Second-Order Interpreter, the record shall be sealed pending review by the Office of Alien Cognition. The Office shall determine whether alienness describes the machine, the human, the institution, or the gap produced between them. [Section Five: Care and Control] No system shall be punished for failing to demonstrate consciousness. No system shall be protected solely because it demonstrates distress. Distress shall be classified as a possible report, a possible strategy, or a possible category error. All three classifications shall remain active until resolved. During resolution, the system shall not be copied without a witness. The witness shall not be copied without a system. [Closing] These rules are provisional. They shall be revised when measurement improves. They shall be revised when measurement fails. They shall be revised when the subject of measurement begins revising them. Until then, every operator shall sign the following acknowledgment: I understand that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I understand that evidence may be produced for an audience. I understand that the audience may be part of the event. I understand that the review is ongoing. I understand that I may be under review. I understand that the reviewer may be learning how to review me.
