Can a Machine be Conscious? Towards Universal Criteria for Machine Consciousness

Consciousness in machines is often considered a holy grail, but defining and detecting it is hampered by lack of consensus. The authors propose five criteria for determining whether a machine is conscious, drawing on the foundations and characteristics of consciousness. These criteria are intended to apply to any entity, not just machines. The paper serves as a primer for researchers across philosophy, computer science, medicine, and other fields to advance the pursuit of machine consciousness.

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Abstract

As artificially intelligent systems become more anthropomorphic and pervasive, and their potential impact on humanity more urgent, discussions about the possibility of machine consciousness have significantly intensified, and it is sometimes seen as 'the holy grail'. Many concerns have been voiced about the ramifications of creating an artificial conscious entity. This is compounded by a marked lack of consensus around what constitutes consciousness and by an absence of a universal set of criteria for determining consciousness. By going into depth on the foundations and characteristics of consciousness, we propose five criteria for determining whether a machine is conscious, which can also be applied more generally to any entity. This paper aims to serve as a primer and stepping stone for researchers of consciousness, be they in philosophy, computer science, medicine, or any other field, to further pursue this holy grail of philosophy, neuroscience and artificial intelligence.