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Moral Rebel Agents: Decision-Making Under Conflicting Obligations

arXiv · AI, language, vision and robotics · article · Sep 13, 2026 · UTC

Autonomous agents are typically obliged to follow user-assigned tasks. However, strict obedience may conflict with moral obligations that arise during execution. This paper investigates \textbf{moral rebellion}: the ability of an autonomous agent to deviate from a user-assigned task when morally justified. We formalize five agent architectures: an \textit{amoral agent} that pursues assigned tasks without considering moral obligations, and four forms of \textbf{moral rebel agency}: (1) \textit{utilitarian agents} that opportunistically maximize task outcomes; (2) \textit{deontic} agents that en

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