Exploring Machine Consciousness

*Lenore refers to a few slides in this podcast; you can see them here. 

Intro

Today's guest, distinguished mathematician and computer scientist Lenore Blum, explains why she and her husband Manuel believe machine consciousness isn't just possible, it's inevitable. Their reasoning? If consciousness is computational (and they're betting it is), and we can mathematically specify those computations, then we can build them. It's that simple, and that profound.

In this conversation, host Will Millership and Callum Chace discuss with Lenore:

• How the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM) draws from and extends the foundational ideas of Alan Turing's Universal Turing Machine.
• Using mathematics to "extract and simplify" the complexities of consciousness, searching for the fundamental, formal principles that define it.
• How the CTM acts as a high-level framework that aligns with the functionalities of competing theories like Global Workspace Theory and Integrated Information Theory (IIT).
• Why the Blums believe that AI consciousness is "inevitable" and that this provides a functional "roadmap for a conscious AI".
• The ethical implications of machine suffering, and why the phenomenon of "pain asymbolia" suggests a conscious AI must be able* *to suffer in order to function.
• What lessons Alan Turing's original "imitation game" can offer us for creating a practical, real-world test for machine consciousness.

Lenore's Work (links)

• Blum, L., & Blum,M. (2024). AI Consciousness is Inevitable: A Theoretical Computer Science Perspective. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.17101
• Blum, L., & Blum, M. (2022). A theory of consciousness from a theoretical computer science perspective: Insights from the Conscious Turing Machine. PNAS, 119(21). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.21159341
• Closer to Truth, Blums’ Conscious Turing Machine
• Full list of references here.

Clara is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she directs the Vision and Cognition Lab. 

Her lab is investigating various aspects of perception and cognition, with a particular focus on the perception of other minds and the visual roots of social cognition. 

The lab is also exploring how we can perceive not just others’ perceptual and cognitive states, but also their metacognitive states such as awareness, confidence, or uncertainty — and how such impressions facilitate communication and collaboration.

Useful links: 

• Clara Colombatto personal website.
• Vision and Cognition Lab website.
• Folk psychological attributions of consciousness to large language models. Article.
• Illusions of Confidence in Artificial Systems. Article.
• PRISM website.

Keith is an Honorary Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Sheffield, a Visiting Research Fellow with The Open University, and an Adjunct Professor with the Brain and Mind Programme at the University of Crete.

Keith is best known for his theory of illusionism—the view that phenomenal consciousness, or the subjective feeling of experience, is an illusion. Rather than denying that we have conscious experiences, Keith argues that our intuitive conception of them as inherently mysterious or non-physical is mistaken.

In this episode, we ask: if we wanted to construct a conscious mind from scratch, what would we need?  That is the question our guest, Professor Mark Solms, addressed in the final chapter of his book The Hidden Spring - a Journey to the Source of Consciousness. 

Mark is a Professor in Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town, and is president of the South African Psychoanalytical Association. He is also an advisor to PRISM and Conscium.  

Mark has contributed significantly to our understanding of consciousness through his pioneering research in the field of neuropsychoanalysis, which integrates Freudian theory with findings from contemporary neuroscience.

In this episode, we spoke to Jeff Sebo of New York University. Jeff is the author of the recently published book The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters and Why. 

In it, he challenges us to expand our moral concern beyond the boundaries of species and substrate. He has also co-authored a number of papers arguing that AI welfare is an issue that needs to be taken seriously today. 

Links:

• The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters and Why. Book.
• Jeff Sebo personal website.
• Moral consideration for AI systems by 2030. (Paper).
• Is there a tension between AI safety and AI welfare?. (Paper)
• Prism website.

In the second episode of Exploring Machine Consciousness, we welcomed philosopher and AI expert Professor Susan Schneider to discuss consciousness, quantum physics, and the future of conscious machines.

Susan introduces her “Superpsychism” theory, exploring quantum coherence as a basis for consciousness, and explains why the AI Consciousness Test (ACT) could help determine whether machines truly have experiences - or are just mimicking human responses.

Susan is sceptical that current LLMs show any convincing signs of consciousness. But believes that hybrid systems of organoids and LLMs could be compelling candidates for consciousness.  

Links:

• Susan Schneider's website
• Superpsychism, paper by Susan Schneider & Mark Bailey
• Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, book by Susan Schneider
• Chatbot Epistemology, paper by Susan Schneider
• If a Chatbot Tells You It Is Conscious, Should You Believe It?, article in the Scientific American
• The Easy Part of the Hard Problem: A Resonance Theory of Consciousness, paper by Tam Hunt and Jonathan Schooler
• PRISM website: https://www.prism-global.com/

Welcome to the first episode of Understanding Machine Consciousness. This episode is a collaboration with The London Futurists Podcast.

Our guest in this episode is Henry Shevlin. Henry is the Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, where he also co-directs the Kinds of Intelligence program and oversees educational initiatives. 

He researches the potential for machines to possess consciousness, the ethical ramifications of such developments, and the broader implications for our understanding of intelligence. 

In his 2024 paper, “Consciousness, Machines, and Moral Status,” Henry examines the recent rapid advancements in machine learning and the questions they raise about machine consciousness and moral status. He suggests that public attitudes towards artificial consciousness may change swiftly, as human-AI interactions become increasingly complex and intimate. He also warns that our tendency to anthropomorphise may lead to misplaced trust in and emotional attachment to AIs.

Note: this episode is co-hosted by David and Will Millership, the CEO of a non-profit called Prism (Partnership for Research Into Sentient Machines). Prism is seeded by Conscium, a startup where both Calum and David are involved, and which, among other things, is researching the possibility and implications of machine consciousness. Will and Calum will be releasing a new Prism podcast focusing entirely on Conscious AI, and the first few episodes will be in collaboration with the London Futurists Podcast.

Selected follow-ups:

• Henry Shevlin - personal site
• Kinds of Intelligence - Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
• Consciousness, Machines, and Moral Status - 2024 paper by Henry Shevlin
• Apply rich psychological terms in AI with care - by Henry Shevlin and Marta Halina
• What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness - by Andrew Barron and Colin Klein
• Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness - By Patrick Butlin, Robert Long, et al
• Association for the Study of Consciousness
• London Futurist Podcast
• https://www.prism-global.com/