Jonathan Simon (Université de Montréal) is co-author of a new article entitled “Identifying indicators of consciousness in AI systems”, published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Among the authors who contributed to the article are Axel Constant (University of Sussex) and George Deane (Université de Montréal), two former postdoctoral fellows at the CRÉ. 

Abstract

The prospect of consciousness in artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly demands attention given recent advances in AI and increasing capacity to reproduce features of the brain that are associated with consciousness. There are risks of both under- and over-attribution of consciousness to AI systems, entailing a need for methods to assess whether current or future AI systems are likely to be conscious. We argue that progress can be made by drawing out the implications of some neuroscientific theories of consciousness. We outline a method that involves deriving indicators from theories and using them to assess particular AI systems.