The Attention Schema Theory: A Foundation for Engineering Artificial Consciousness
Frontiers in Robotics and AI November 13, 2017 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2017.00060 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Awareness Body schema Internal model Visual attention |
| Key points | Proposes that the brain's claim of possessing subjective awareness arises from a computational model of attention, not from a non-physical essence, and that this could be replicated in artificial systems. |
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.