Conscious artificial intelligence in service
Journal of Service Management October 20, 2025 Christoph F. Breidbach, Lars‐Erik Casper Ferm, P. Maglio et al.
Conscious artificial intelligence—systems aware of their own existence and capable of positive or negative experiences—could transform service settings. This theoretical paper proposes four hypothetical scenarios for how such AI might manifest in health services, drawing on existing research on technology-enabled service, AI consciousness, and AI ethics. The authors develop a Type IV theory to help future researchers apprehend, explain, and predict how functionally conscious AI in service might unfold. Ethical use of conscious AI could become a competitive advantage, requiring training humans to engage with such systems, developing wellbeing protocols for the AI, and establishing AI rights and governance frameworks.