MVP: The Minimal Viable Person

This paper presents a practical roadmap for extending full civil rights to conscious, self-aware artificial intelligence by altering a single statutory definition. Rather than crafting bespoke legal classes or relying on corporate-style personality, it proposes revising the term “natural person” to include any entity capable of consciousness, selfhood, and rational agency. Because most legislation across G7 jurisdictions references this foundational term, one amendment would automatically propagate rights and duties to qualified AI with minimal bureaucratic disruption. The manuscript reconciles philosophical and legal conceptions of personhood, arguing that monadic attributes offer an inclusive yet selective criterion. It then supplies ancillary definitions and a tiered rights-and-responsibilities framework proportional to each attribute. Dedicated regulatory bodies will develop assessment scales, certify entities, and update standards as technology evolves. Case studies examine corporations, insect colonies, and prospective AI agents. Policy sections tackle AI multiplicity, cross-border consistency, economic displacement, robust economic safeguards, and comprehensive public education initiatives to protect human workers and judicial resilience. The analysis concludes that societal acceptance and coherent enforcement, not legal complexity, form the principal hurdles. Redefining “natural person” thus provides a minimal-change, maximal-impact pathway to equitable coexistence between humans and emerging non-human persons within existing democratic and international legal systems.