Let’s become a walking Wikipedia page for a sec: Artificial consciousness is basically more of a theoretical concept preaching that it is remotely possible to “fill” artificial intelligence systems with a form of consciousness similar to human awareness.
It is studied rather… strongly. And we are talking here about fields such as philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and neuroscience.
Because Artificial Intelligence is expanding every day, learning new things, making us surprised at the number of tasks it is able to comprehend in a pretty good manner, there have been some speculations about conscious AI systems. Traditionally, AI lacks consciousness.But these days we are all about nontraditional ways.
Illya Sutskever, the chief scientist at OpenAI, suggests: that some of the most advanced AI networks might already exhibit traces of consciousness.
19 experts. Neuroscientists, philosophers, and computer scientists sat down and formulated a checklist of criteria (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-ai-becomes-conscious-heres-how-we-can-tell/). What is the checklist’s task? Provide a foundational framework for assessing the likelihood of an AI system possessing consciousness.
The team of experts underlines that it is crucial to identify AI’s consciousness because the lack of doing so has “important moral implications”. Let’s say GPT becomes conscious; We will obviously treat it differently. Say “thank you”, for example or “hi”.
Besides talking differently to a conscious being, we have got to ask: what is it? Should we grant them rights? Should we talk about their feelings? How do we progress with this in mind?
The methodology employed by the scientists is heavily reliant on various concepts from the field of brain science (yikes.)They are searching for AI systems that align with several of these theories, indicating that they may be sentient. They contend that consciousness is inextricably linked to the information-processing capabilities of systems, whether or not those systems are composed of computer chips. We refer to this concept as computational functionalism.
In order to determine if AI could be sentient, the scientists have selected six key concepts from the field of brain science. According to one of these theories, known as the global workspace theory, both humans and animals have unique thought processes that function as a team. One of the key things they look at when assessing AI systems is this.
The scientists’ strategy is commended for being open and transparent about the theories upon which it is built. Although there may be dissenting opinions, the strategy is amenable to improvement with input from additional subject matter experts.
The approach they have developed is already applicable to our current AI systems. In particular, large language models such as ChatGPT provide signals consistent with the global workspace idea. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that no AI system is currently even somewhat sentient.
To put it briefly, the investigation of whetherAI is capable of consciousness is advancing as a result of these technological developments. This expert group’s checklist is a significant starting step toward attempting to address this important machine consciousness query.Expanding and refining this approach will be crucial to comprehending artificial consciousness as AI continues to advance.
So we are in our “investigation mode”. Trying to come up with a solution for a maybe soon-to-be problem. Whether or not AI will become conscious, we have to keep the human component in mind. After all, AI is a creation of human ingenuity. We are learning more about the complexities of consciousness and expanding our knowledge of what it is to be human as we explore the inner workings of technology.
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