Conscious AI: A Future Reality?
The growing prevalence of AI technology, thanks to its easy implementation and a variety of applications, has caught the eye of governments, resulting in large investments in AI and its related technologies.
The advancement of deep learning and Artificial Neural Networks has further strengthened the growth of the Artificial Intelligence market across sectors such as aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, and automotive. Moreover, the need to analyze and interpret large amounts of data is driving the demand for AI applications.
The development of more reliable cloud computing platforms and advancements in dynamic AI solutions are major factors that are positively impacting the growth of the AI industry. AI is being used across the board to automate hazardous tasks, streamline operations, and supplement or replace skilled labour. Companies need to have the right set of skills to manage, develop, and implement AI systems.
What Is Consciousness?
It’s widely accepted that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will be achieved by computers at some point, but the prospect of such advancements raises many questions. Will AGI have an experience similar to consciousness? Can computers ever be conscious? These inquiries all lead to the same ultimate quest: finding an objective definition that encapsulates the concept of consciousness.
Though individuals may have their own interpretations of consciousness, it’s often difficult to define. We all know what it’s like to take a dip in a cold pool, drink a refreshing beverage on a hot day, or be moved emotionally by the lyrics of a favorite song, but translating these experiences into words is difficult. Philosophers refer to these experiences as qualia, and they are an essential part of consciousness. We all experience qualia in some form or another every day, and they are what help create the reality of consciousness
What Is Artificial Consciousness ?
Artificial Consciousness is the concept of machines achieving a form of awareness and self-awareness, similar to that of a human. It is an area of AI that concerns the development of machines that can demonstrate behavior that appears to be conscious, such as making decisions and expressing emotions.
The concept of Artificial Consciousness has been debated for decades, but there is still no consensus as to what constitutes consciousness. Some believe that consciousness is too complex to be replicated in a machine, while others point to the advances in AI as an indication that machines could, in fact, be conscious.
There are many questions surrounding the potential of Artificial Consciousness, such as whether machines could experience emotions and feelings, or whether they could think and learn independently. In addition, questions arise as to the ethical implications of implementing Artificial Consciousness — would it be a form of slavery or a new kind of intelligence?
As with any form of AI, the development of Artificial Consciousness is a complex process that requires research into the fields of neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and computing. Ultimately, the goal is to develop machines that are capable of demonstrating the same capacity for thought and behavior as humans, but with the added advantage of being able to think and act more quickly
Aspects of consciousness
There are various aspects of consciousness that are generally considered necessary for a machine to be Artificially Conscious. Here are a few:
Awareness
Awareness is an aspect that is required for a machine to be conscious. The results of experiments of neuro scanning on monkeys suggest that a process — not only a state or an object — activates neurons.
Making such models that have awareness demands a lot of flexibility, modeling of the physical world, modeling of one’s own internal states and processes, and modeling of other conscious entities.
Awareness itself has three categorisations: agency awareness, goal awareness, and sensorimotor awareness.
- Agency awareness: When one is aware of a certain action that one has performed or did not perform.
- Goal awareness: The motive that drives the action one takes. For example, searching for a lost object.
- Sensorimotor awareness: The knowledge or recognition one has when physically engaging in an action. For instance, being aware when one’s hand rests on a hot or cold object.
Learning
Learning is considered important for Artificial Consciousness. According to Axel Cleeremans and Luis Jiménez, learning is defined as “a set of phylogenetically advanced adaptation processes that critically depend on an evolved sensitivity to subjective experience so as to enable agents to afford flexible control over their actions in complex, unpredictable environments”.
Anticipation
This aspect is also considered important because it is the ability to predict foreseeable events. Anticipation helps predict the consequences of one’s own actions and those of other entities or objects. Hence, it is crucial that an Artificially Conscious machine should be able to anticipate events correctly so that it can respond to it when it occurs or take some action.
Reasoning About AI Consciousness
Originality And Creativity
AI has been shown to be creative in a number of different tasks from song-writing to painting and even rapping. However, in these studies involving machine learning where machines are producing content that might be deemed art, it is difficult to argue with any conviction that there is creativity involved. This because all the AI is really doing is extrapolating from a data set and reproducing within a predefined amount of random error.
Benevolence And Hostility
Benevolence and malevolence are largely related to emotions. We know that for the moment, AI cannot feel emotions and are for the most part highly predictable. Nonetheless, there is much out there on the dangers of AI, and there are plenty of science fiction novels and TV series premised on the idea that Artificially Intelligent machines will one day turn on us.
Elon Musk has several times mentioned that once Artificial Intelligence surpasses human intelligence, we will not be able to control it. That may be beneficial or detrimental, there are no ways of predicting that outcome.
However, the ability to feel or not might not be the cause for hostility. Musk gives an example that humans when building a road may destroy an ant nest, not because we are inherently evil or dislike the ants, but because our goal is to build a road. He argues that a machine for example programmed to fix a problem, might consider humans and the human race to be the problem. One solution may be to destroy humans. We as humans would of course view this as hostile, but it is a kind of hostility that does not necessarily relate to emotions.
Our team is developing Nova AI, which combines Empathic AI and Conversational AI. We combine deep learning networks with neuroscience, neurophysiology and psychology. We are currently working to bring aspects of consciousness into our development.
