Could AI become conscious? Well, maybe…
A recent article in Nature laid out three arguments for why current Artificial Intelligence systems are not conscious and why future AI systems are unlikely to ever become conscious (1). The first claim seems right to me, based on the current technology, but the second one, arguing for impossibility in principle, feels like a stretch. The authors of this piece were Anil Seth, Ned Block, and Giulio Tononi – three heavyweights from cognitive science and philosophy. (Seth and Block have both published much longer pieces making similar arguments in Behavioral and Brain Sciences ( 2 ) and Trends in Cognitive Sciences( 3 )). The authors were motivated to address this issue by claims that current AI systems either have already attained consciousness or soon could. This has prompted concerns about “AI rights” or “AI welfare”, personhood, autonomy, responsibility, and a host of other issues – practical, legal, and even existential. I think the authors are right to be skeptical of the...