Artificial Consciousness

# Artificial Consciousness **Entity class:** Research problem and scientific domain **Aliases:** AI Consciousness; Digital Consciousness **Collections:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] · [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] · [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] **Canonical source article:** [[articles/Host-Indexed Autonomy|Host-Indexed Autonomy]] ## Definition **Artificial consciousness** concerns whether, under what conditions, and with what evidence an artificial system could possess subjective experience. It must be distinguished from intelligence, fluent self-report, behavioral simulation, human attribution, and moral-status policy. ## Relationships - **Evidence:** [[wiki/Consciousness Indicators|consciousness indicators]], architectural evidence, behavioral evidence, and self-report require separate evaluation. - **Theories:** [[wiki/Global Workspace Theory|Global Workspace Theory]], [[wiki/Recurrent Processing Theory|Recurrent Processing Theory]], [[wiki/Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness|higher-order theories]], [[wiki/Attention Schema Theory|Attention Schema Theory]], and [[wiki/Integrated Information Theory|Integrated Information Theory]]. - **Institutions:** [[wiki/PRISM (Partnership for Research Into Sentient Machines)|PRISM]], [[wiki/Cambridge Digital Minds|Cambridge Digital Minds]], and [[wiki/Rethink Priorities|Rethink Priorities]]. - **Ethics:** [[wiki/AI Moral Status|AI moral status]], [[wiki/AI Welfare|AI welfare]], and [[wiki/Precautionary Standing|precautionary standing]]. - **Collection and source routes:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]], [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]], [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]], and [[articles/Host-Indexed Autonomy|Host-Indexed Autonomy]]. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts  > "The causal powers of a system matter for consciousness, not merely what it computes." > **— Christof Koch**, *IIT-aligned writings; wording candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: IIT-aligned writings; wording candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/Causal Power and Consciousness by Christof Koch|Causal Power and Consciousness by Christof Koch]] > "Consciousness is what disappears every night when we fall into dreamless sleep and reappears when we wake up or dream." > **— Giulio Tononi**, *Integrated Information Theory talks and writings, wording candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: Integrated Information Theory talks and writings, wording candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/Consciousness Between Sleep and Dream by Giulio Tononi|Consciousness Between Sleep and Dream by Giulio Tononi]] > "Consciousness was not something that comes about from complicated calculations." > **— Roger Penrose**, *Berkeley Groks interview (2005), excerpt candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: Berkeley Groks interview (2005), excerpt candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/Consciousness Beyond Computation by Roger Penrose|Consciousness Beyond Computation by Roger Penrose]] > "May not machines carry out something which ought to be described as thinking but which is very different from what a man does?" > **— Alan Turing**, *Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950)* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950).* [[reminders/unverified/Machines May Think in Ways We Do Not by Alan Turing|Machines May Think in Ways We Do Not by Alan Turing]] > "We experience the world not as it is, but as it is useful for us to do so." > **— Anil Seth**, *Being You (2021), wording candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: Being You (2021), wording candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/We See the World for Use, Not Truth by Anil Seth|We See the World for Use, Not Truth by Anil Seth]]  ## Sources - [Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence](https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708) ## Quotations  Quotations here are evidence for named propositions, not substitutes for proof. Confidence grades describe the quotation's provenance; they do not raise the associated scientific or philosophical inference to the same tier. The selection record is [[research/Research Inferences|Research Inferences]] and the supplied quotation review dated 2026-09-11. **Corpus context:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] · [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] · [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] > “how we can measure which things in the world are conscious and which are not conscious” > > — **Samuel G. Rodriques**, research biography. [Source](https://www.sam-rodriques.com/) · **Provenance confidence:** High **Evidentiary role:** articulates the measurement problem behind consciousness indicators. > “You can simulate a rainstorm, but it never gets wet inside the computer.” > > — **Christof Koch**, 2024 Nautilus interview on consciousness and IIT. [Source](https://nautil.us/what-counts-as-consciousness-579734) · **Provenance confidence:** Medium **Evidentiary role:** challenges the inference from functional simulation to instantiated consciousness.  ## Research Inference Attractors  These are secondary semantic placements for the inference attractor network. Each statement keeps its original ID and tier; its canonical cluster page links back to every destination. Source register: [[research/Research Inferences|Research Inferences]]. Interpretive context: [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] and [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]]. Collection route: [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]]. - **INF-0142 — Unresolved.** At what fidelity an emulation acquires interests of its own is undetermined, and the question will become operational before it is settled philosophically. The first institution to adopt a working threshold will set the de facto standard for everyone else. - **Canonical cluster:** [[wiki/Whole-Brain Emulation|Whole-Brain Emulation]] - **INF-0149 — Strongly indicated.** Comparing artificial and biological networks on the same stimuli has become a standard method, producing a quantitative similarity measure between minds and models. A metric that scores how close a model is to a brain is also the metric that will score how close an emulation is to a person. - **Canonical cluster:** [[wiki/Whole-Brain Emulation|Whole-Brain Emulation]]