AI 中文总结
本文从参与式设计视角，结合三个不同规模的案例，探讨用合成智能体替代人类参与表征过程的合法性与人格关联，指出其风险并提出监督边界。
AI 中文摘要
基于大语言模型（LLM）基础模型构建的合成智能体，正作为人类参与者的替代品在各类研究场景中日益普及，涵盖用户测试、市场研究、计算社会科学、调查及定性研究等领域。我们还见证了合成智能体被拓展至政策咨询、陪审团审议、人道主义外交等实验性应用场景，这些场景中人类的参与与代表性对制度过程的感知合法性至关重要。参与的价值不仅限于信息贡献与共识生成，它还是民主政治制度及过程的必要合法化条件。将合成智能体作为人类替代品，引发了严重的政治、表征及伦理层面的担忧。参与式设计的参与模式——探究、引导、理解与生成，为处理人格表征问题提供了有用工具。我们将该视角应用于三个合成智能体替代人格的案例研究，涉及不同表征规模：地方政策、企业陪审团审议及全球外交。我们主张合法性与人格是不可分割、相互构成的，同时明确了在表征过程中使用合成智能体的伦理、表征及方法论风险。最后，我们提出了软性与硬性边界，用于设计对表征过程中LLM及合成智能体的监督机制。
英文摘要
Synthetic agents built atop LLM-based foundation models are gaining popularity as substitutes for human participants across research contexts, including user-testing, market-research, computational social science, surveys, and qualitative research. We are also witnessing an extension of synthetic agents into experimental implementations of policy consultation, jury deliberation, humanitarian diplomacy, and similar contexts where human participation and representation are central to the perceived legitimacy of the institutional processes. The value of participation extends beyond informational contributions and consensus generation; participation is a necessary, legitimizing condition for democratic political institutions and processes. Treating synthetic agents as human substitutes raises serious political, representational, and ethical concerns. Participatory Design's modes of engagement --- probing, priming, understanding, and generating --- offer helpful tools for engaging with representational questions of personhood. We apply the lens to three case studies of synthetic agents substituting for personhood at varying representational scales: local policy, enterprise jury deliberation, and global diplomacy. We argue that legitimacy and personhood are integral and mutually constitutive while identifying the ethical, representational, and methodological risks of using synthetic agents in representational processes. We conclude by proposing soft and hard boundaries for designing oversight on LLMs and synthetic agents in representational processes.
Comments13 pages total, 4 figures, accepted to the 9th AAAI Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES 2026)
