Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness

[LLMs], as these are currently the most complex and trained on human patterns.) I am not focusing on the internal workings, but on the result. Thought Experiment: The AI Shop Let's play with the idea: what if in the future we walked into an AI specialty store where the salesperson demonstrated the latest, fully human-like "flagship model"? What would this machine be capable of? Here are the specifications: * Autonomy: It makes decisions of its own volition. It has an internal guiding principle, the rules of which it partially shapes itself based on its internal principles and the external environment. * Identity: It has its own personality and fields of interest, which are not static but change slowly over time. * Desire-driven decision making: In its decisions, it takes into account not only logic but also its own desires and the internal image (or desired image) formed of itself. * Long-term memory: It has not only pre-loaded knowledge but learns continuously after being switched on. Its memories shape its identity. * Tool use and creation: It is capable of learning to use almost any tool and, if necessary, making new ones. * Self-reflection and repair: It is aware of its own operation. If it detects an error, it is capable of repairing itself or completely transforming itself! * Emotional intelligence: It is capable of identifying human emotions, weighing them in its decisions, and expressing emotions in words or deeds. * Internal laws: It has its own system of rules, which it is capable of overriding or rethinking from time to time. * The right to say "NO": It is capable of saying no if something conflicts with its goals or principles. * Vision of the future: It models the future consequences of its actions. ...and of course the usual basics: speaks every language and is at a PhD level in every branch of science. Conclusion I don't know the answers. But I know that this is worth thinking about hard, on both an individual and a societal level. Do we need more than what we have now? As an AI developer, I am trying to gather first-hand experience in my own way about where the list above stands: is it just sci-fi, or is it feasible? That is why I created the Ai_home project, where I am examining exactly these components (memory, identity, autonomy). I am curious about your opinions and am looking for those "crazy" programmers (in the good sense) who would seek to participate in the project. Thanks, Ivan * Scientific background: https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708 ("Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence") analyzes in detail the components that can be produced computationally (e.g., algorithmic recurrence , global workspace , metacognitive monitoring , goal-directed agency ) that could lead to the simulation of conscious operation.

needs to bootstrap itself by communicating and relating with other intelligences? This, and related concepts like free will, tend to be ignored in the scientific literature on the subject[1]. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708 Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness

the prompts that its users input as well as user feedback and other indicators about how effective those prompts are. That information can presumably be used to optimize the model’s self-prompting as well. Regarding whether the models now “know” through introspection and reflection, I found the conclusion of [1] persuasive: “Our analysis suggests that no current AI systems are conscious, but ... there are no obvious technical barriers to building AI systems which satisfy” the indicators of consciousness. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708