Artificial intelligence is rapidly developing, and with it, chatbots are becoming increasingly capable of engaging in conversations that almost mimic those conducted by humans.
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With this progress, a question arises that borders on science fiction: Has an artificial intelligence system already become conscious? And how can we verify this?
Megan Peters, a lecturer in computational cognition at University College London, points out that scientists currently lack a reliable or universally agreed-upon test to determine whether an AI system is conscious. Peters plans to discuss this issue at the New Scientist Live event scheduled for October 10-12, where she emphasizes that research into artificial consciousness goes beyond impressions or intuition.
She told the Daily Mail that it is not possible to simply look for signs or indicators of consciousness in an artificial system, because such signs are fundamentally unknown.
The difficulty lies in the fact that consciousness itself remains a major scientific mystery, even for humans. While a conscious person can describe their own experience when asked, artificial intelligence's responses cannot be handled in the same way. Peters argues that if the question is posed to AI systems, the answer cannot be trusted in the same way.
This question is gaining increasing importance in light of the rapid development of chatbots and the huge investments made by AI companies in research into what is known as "AI welfare".
Peters believes that the great fluency of these robots may lead humans to confuse the ability to mimic dialogue with having real consciousness.
She said: "It's very easy to talk to these intelligent systems and create a sense that there is some kind of conscious entity inside them."
Peters doesn't believe current AI models are conscious, but she thinks the possibility of conscious systems emerging in the future warrants preparation. If a system were conscious, deleting, retraining, or shutting it down could raise ethical questions similar to those associated with harming a conscious being.
She said: "If artificial intelligence has consciousness and we treat it as if it lacks it, that entails the potential for harm of moral significance."
But the opposite approach can also have consequences. Believing that a system is conscious, without evidence of it, could influence policies and regulations governing artificial intelligence, and could lead people to place more trust in it than it deserves.
Peters' team is developing a framework to compare dozens, perhaps hundreds, of potential tests of consciousness, to determine which ones are applicable to humans, animals, and artificial systems. She believes that gradually testing these ideas on different types of organisms before applying them to machines could help scientists develop more reliable methods for detecting consciousness.
Currently, Peters urges caution regarding claims that a chatbot has become self-aware, emphasizing that the crucial question is not simply whether the system is conscious, but how scientists can prove it. She argues that when someone claims to have observed or not observed artificial consciousness, the underlying reason for that claim should be questioned.
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