{"title":"Is artificial consciousness achievable? Lessons from the human brain","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.neunet.2024.106714","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We here analyse the question of developing artificial consciousness from an evolutionary perspective, taking the evolution of the human brain and its relation with consciousness as a reference model or as a benchmark. This kind of analysis reveals several structural and functional features of the human brain that appear to be key for reaching human-like complex conscious experience and that current research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) should take into account in its attempt to develop systems capable of human-like conscious processing. We argue that, even if AI is limited in its ability to emulate human consciousness for both intrinsic (i.e., structural and architectural) and extrinsic (i.e., related to the current stage of scientific and technological knowledge) reasons, taking inspiration from those characteristics of the brain that make human-like conscious processing possible and/or modulate it, is a potentially promising strategy towards developing conscious AI.</p><p>Also, it cannot be theoretically excluded that AI research can develop partial or potentially alternative forms of consciousness that are qualitatively different from the human form, and that may be either more or less sophisticated depending on the perspectives. Therefore, we recommend neuroscience-inspired caution in talking about artificial consciousness: since the use of the same word “consciousness” for humans and AI becomes ambiguous and potentially misleading, we propose to clearly specify which level and/or type of consciousness AI research aims to develop, as well as what would be common versus differ in AI conscious processing compared to human conscious experience.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49763,"journal":{"name":"Neural Networks","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0893608024006385/pdfft?md5=c98bc30981fde7ebf05da59255e256cb&pid=1-s2.0-S0893608024006385-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neural Networks","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0893608024006385","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We here analyse the question of developing artificial consciousness from an evolutionary perspective, taking the evolution of the human brain and its relation with consciousness as a reference model or as a benchmark. This kind of analysis reveals several structural and functional features of the human brain that appear to be key for reaching human-like complex conscious experience and that current research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) should take into account in its attempt to develop systems capable of human-like conscious processing. We argue that, even if AI is limited in its ability to emulate human consciousness for both intrinsic (i.e., structural and architectural) and extrinsic (i.e., related to the current stage of scientific and technological knowledge) reasons, taking inspiration from those characteristics of the brain that make human-like conscious processing possible and/or modulate it, is a potentially promising strategy towards developing conscious AI.
Also, it cannot be theoretically excluded that AI research can develop partial or potentially alternative forms of consciousness that are qualitatively different from the human form, and that may be either more or less sophisticated depending on the perspectives. Therefore, we recommend neuroscience-inspired caution in talking about artificial consciousness: since the use of the same word “consciousness” for humans and AI becomes ambiguous and potentially misleading, we propose to clearly specify which level and/or type of consciousness AI research aims to develop, as well as what would be common versus differ in AI conscious processing compared to human conscious experience.
期刊介绍:
Neural Networks is a platform that aims to foster an international community of scholars and practitioners interested in neural networks, deep learning, and other approaches to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Our journal invites submissions covering various aspects of neural networks research, from computational neuroscience and cognitive modeling to mathematical analyses and engineering applications. By providing a forum for interdisciplinary discussions between biology and technology, we aim to encourage the development of biologically-inspired artificial intelligence.