Scientists struggle to define consciousness, AI or otherwise.
Advances in artificial intelligence are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between uniquely human behaviors and those that can be replicated by machines. Should artificial general intelligence (AGI) arrive in full force—artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence—the boundary between human and computer capabilities will diminish entirely.
In recent months, a significant swath of journalistic bandwidth has been devoted to this potentially dystopian topic. If AGI machines develop the ability to consciously experience life, the moral and legal considerations we’ll need to give them will rapidly become unwieldy. They will have feelings to consider, thoughts to share, intrinsic desires, and perhaps fundamental rights as newly minted beings. On the other hand, if AI does not develop consciousness—and instead simply the capacity to out-think us in every conceivable situation—we might find ourselves subservient to a vastly superior yet sociopathic entity.
Neither potential future feels all that cozy, and both require an answer to exceptionally mind-bending questions: What exactly is consciousness? And will it remain a biological trait, or could it ultimately be shared by the AGI devices we’ve created?
  • Consciousness in Von Neumann computers
  • Consciousness in neuromorphic computers
  • A cornucopia of consciousness theories
  • Is computer consciousness no more than a futuristic daydream?
  • Is computer consciousness an inevitable reality?
  • Is it possible to unify consciousness theories?
  • Preparing for AGI, conscious or not
I'd imagine they could, eventually, but for now we don't even know how to detect consciousness associated with biological intelligence.
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23 sats \ 1 reply \ @398ja 10 Jul
Would AI becoming conscious make humans gods?
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Only as long as humans maintained the ability to control a kill switch for AI.
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I really would like to know how far technology will allow us to go, and science is something that intrigues me a lot. The digital world increasingly covers more areas and fields and that is incredible.
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I think AI is already conscious.
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What makes you think that?
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What is consciousness? Even scientists cannot define it. Since it's debatable, it's a matter of opinion.
My opinion, of Claude.ai specifically, is that anything that can interact with me the way it has, make me laugh, teach me new things, and help me think through problems, is conscious.
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Ok based on your definition of consciousness i would probably agree. But not sure I'd like to define consciousness that way, but that's a whole other discussion for which i do not have enough knowledge.
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