In this book, I argue that at least in principle, an AI system can be conscious. If you replace down neurons one at a time, say by silicon chips, if you're conscious at the beginning and the simulation is good enough, you'll have consciousness at the end. Most people think mice are conscious but they don't have full scale human level intelligence. Current models largely involve feed forward processing without much in the way of memory.
Throughout the year, AI development has taken significant strides. We are living in a society that is becoming increasingly reliant on digital technology, which soon could be flooded with computer-generated content. As technology advances, it will become harder to distinguish between the virtual and the real, eventually almost impossible. Is this a cause for concern?
In part one of this partnership with the Swedish publishing house and ideas forum Fri Tanke we hear from keynote speaker David Chalmers, Professor of Philosophy at New York University.
We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.
This event took place in May 2023 in Stockholm.
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