Will We Ever Have Conscious Machines?
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2020.556544 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Artificial intelligence Correlates of consciousness Deep learning Global workspace Machine consciousness Machine learning Theories of consciousness |
| Key points | Argues that many important algorithmic steps toward machines with a core consciousness have already been taken in common machine learning approaches. |
Abstract
The question of whether artificial beings or machines could become self-aware or conscious has been a philosophical question for centuries. The main problem is that self-awareness cannot be observed from an outside perspective and the distinction of being really self-aware or merely a clever imitation cannot be answered without access to knowledge about the mechanism's inner workings. We investigate common machine learning approaches with respect to their potential ability to become self-aware. We realize that many important algorithmic steps toward machines with a core consciousness have already been taken.