Toggle light / dark theme

Conscious AI: Conflations and Comparisons

Consciousness, like intelligence, is multi-faceted. This makes the future of AI more unpredictable and potentially even more hazardous.

When considering AIs that might be conscious, the first great conflation is to fail to distinguish between intelligence and consciousness. The suggestion is that something which is as generally intelligent as a human is bound to be as conscious as a human. General intelligence and consciousness are both intrinsic features of an advanced mind, right?

Well, no. Of course not. There’s no fundamental necessity for these two characteristics to be tightly bound together. A chatbot can provide a human companion with sparkling conversation without having its own inner sparkle of feeling. Like an actor, it can mimic expressions of emotional highs and lows whilst lacking any interior passion. It can talk persuasively about having an inner life without there being any inside inside.

Leave a Comment

Lifeboat Foundation respects your privacy! Your email address will not be published.

/* */