Journal article
Hyesun Choung, Soojong Kim
International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026
International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026
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APA
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Choung, H., & Kim, S. (2026). Can AI Be a Moral Victim? The Role of Moral Patiency and Ownership Perceptions in Ethical Judgments of Using AI-Generated Content. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Chicago/Turabian
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Choung, Hyesun, and Soojong Kim. “Can AI Be a Moral Victim? The Role of Moral Patiency and Ownership Perceptions in Ethical Judgments of Using AI-Generated Content.” International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2026).
MLA
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Choung, Hyesun, and Soojong Kim. “Can AI Be a Moral Victim? The Role of Moral Patiency and Ownership Perceptions in Ethical Judgments of Using AI-Generated Content.” International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026.
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@article{hyesun2026a,
title = {Can AI Be a Moral Victim? The Role of Moral Patiency and Ownership Perceptions in Ethical Judgments of Using AI-Generated Content},
year = {2026},
journal = {International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
author = {Choung, Hyesun and Kim, Soojong}
}
Abstract
The growing use of generative AI raises ethical concerns about authorship attribution and plagiarism. This study examines how people judge the reuse of AI-generated content, focusing on moral patiency and ownership perceptions. In an experiment, participants evaluated two substantively similar manuscripts in which the original source was described as authored by a human, an AI system, or an AI agent with a human-like name. Results showed that copying AI-generated work was judged less unethical, less plagiaristic, and less guilt-inducing than copying human-authored work. Mediation analyses revealed that this leniency stemmed from lower perceptions of AI's capacity to suffer harm (moral patiency) and greater ownership attributed to the human writer reusing AI-generated content. Anthropomorphic cues shaped moral evaluations indirectly by reducing perceived ownership. These findings shed light on how people morally disengage when using AI-generated work and highlight differences in how ethical judgments are applied to human versus AI-created content.