The Attention Schema Theory: A Foundation for Engineering Artificial Consciousness

The attention schema theory proposes that the brain, as an information-processing device, constructs a simplified internal model of its own attentional state, which it then labels as subjective awareness. This model does not imply any non-physical essence; rather, it is a computational account of how the brain arrives at the claim of possessing consciousness and assigns high certainty to that claim. The theory offers a potential roadmap for building artificial consciousness: a machine could be designed with a rich internal model of consciousness, attribute that property to itself and others, and use it to predict behavior, thereby acting and believing it is conscious in the same way humans do.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The purpose of the attention schema theory is to explain how an information-processing device, the brain, arrives at the claim that it possesses a non-physical, subjective awareness and assigns a high degree of certainty to that extraordinary claim. The theory does not address how the brain might actually possess a non-physical essence. It is not a theory that deals in the non-physical. It is about the computations that cause a machine to make a claim and to assign a high degree of certainty to the claim. The theory is offered as a possible starting point for building artificial consciousness. Given current technology, it should be possible to build a machine that contains a rich internal model of what consciousness is, attributes that property of consciousness to itself and to the people it interacts with, and uses that attribution to make predictions about human behavior. Such a machine would “believe” it is conscious and act like it is conscious, in the same sense that the human machine believes and acts.