The people who think AI might become conscious
www.bbc.co.uk
With a leap in the evolution of large language models, some leading thinkers are questioning whether AI might become sentient

Do you think AI is, or could become, conscious?

I think AI might one day emulate consciousness to a high level of accuracy, but that wouldn’t mean it would actually be conscious.

This article mentions a Google engineer who “argued that AI chatbots could feel things and potentially suffer”. But surely in order to “feel things” you would need a nervous system right? When you feel pain from touching something very hot, it’s your nerves that are sending those pain signals to your brain… right?

  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    5 days ago

    the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness.

    I 100% agree with that statement, and I’ve been saying that for 30 years. Consciousness is NOT unique to humans.
    That idea seems to me to mostly stem from religion.

    But I still don’t see this paper really doing much in DEFINING Consciousness, it’s more defining what it isn’t.

    • futatorius@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      That idea seems to me to mostly stem from religion.

      It also was strongly pushed by Skinner and other behaviorists, though I’m not sure they’d agree that humans are conscious either.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 days ago

        Isn’t Skinner a relic that is mostly irrelevant by now?
        I remember reading about him 25 years ago and writing a paper on it, and I seem to remember he was way way off on consciousness. Even by the standards back then.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      31·
      5 days ago

      But I still don’t see this paper really doing much in DEFINING Consciousness, it’s more defining what it isn’t.

      Yeah there’s no clear definition in there. The paper fails to do what it was purported to do.