Exploring the Nature and Substrates of Consciousness

On this episode, Jeff Sebo joins me to discuss artificial consciousness, substrate-independence, possible tensions between AI risk and AI consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and cognitive complexity, and how intuitive versus intellectual approaches guide our understanding of these topics. We also discuss AI companions, AI rights, and how we might measure consciousness effectively.  

You can follow Jeff’s work here: https://jeffsebo.net/  

Timestamps:  

00:00:00 Preview and intro 

00:02:56 Imagining artificial consciousness  

00:07:51 Substrate-independence? 

00:11:26 Are we making progress?  

00:18:03 Intuitions about explanations  

00:24:43 AI risk and AI consciousness  

00:40:01 Consciousness and cognitive complexity  

00:51:20 Intuition versus intellect 

00:58:48 AIs as companions  

01:05:24 AI rights  

01:13:00 Acting under time pressure 

01:20:16 Measuring consciousness  

01:32:11 How can you help?