Does AI Need to Be Conscious to Care?

The question of whether AI requires consciousness to exhibit genuine care is explored by distinguishing between functional, experiential, and moral forms of caring. While historical philosophy has traditionally linked moral agency to conscious rationality, current AI systems are not considered conscious by leading researchers. However, complex caring behaviors are observed in non-conscious biological systems, such as bacterial chemotaxis, which operate on mechanistic, goal-directed principles. This suggests that a form of artificial moral agency could potentially emerge in AI through similar functional mechanisms, without necessarily requiring subjective experience.