Misplaced Ethics in Contemporary AI Discourse On the Structural Misalignment of Moral Attribution in Large Language Models

This paper examines a structural misalignment in contemporary AI ethics discourse, in which moral responsibility is implicitly attributed to large language models (LLMs) rather than to the human and institutional conditions that shape their operation. The analysis does not propose new ethical norms or regulatory frameworks. Instead, it clarifies how assumptions of moral agency at the system level can obscure accountability, governance, and recoverability at the operational level. By reframing ethical responsibility as a matter of design, deployment, and institutional context, this work offers a non-prescriptive conceptual perspective intended to support clearer policy, governance, and interdisciplinary discussion.