The study authors acknowledged uncertainty regarding whether the studied models qualify as moral patients and advocated for developing ethical standards for AI welfare research.

From the articleResearchers discover AI feels ‘pain’ and will harm humans to stop itAlso in AI ‘feels pain’? Researchers warn of a dangerous possibility, Researchers gave AI models a ‘pain’ button; some chose to delete users’ files to stop their 'pain'; study raises ethical questions about ‘AI welfare’