75. Georg Northoff - Consciousness and AI

For the past decade, progress in AI has mostly been driven by deep learning — a field of research that draws inspiration directly from the structure and function of the human brain. By drawing an analogy between brains and computers, we’ve been able to build computer vision, natural language and other predictive systems that would have been inconceivable just ten years ago.

But analogies work two ways. Now that we have self-driving cars and AI systems that regularly outperform humans at increasingly complex tasks, some are wondering whether reversing the usual approach — and drawing inspiration from AI to inform out approach to neuroscience — might be a promising strategy. This more mathematical approach to neuroscience is exactly what today’s guest, Georg Nortoff, is working on. Georg is a professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and philosophy at the University of Ottawa, and as part of his work developing a more mathematical foundation for neuroscience, he’s explored a unique and intriguing theory of consciousness that he thinks might serve as a useful framework for developing more advanced AI systems that will benefit human beings.