“Existential risk” – Why scientists are racing to define consciousness
Scientists warn that rapid advances in AI and neurotechnology are outpacing our understanding of consciousness, creating serious ethical risks. New research argues that developing scientific tests for awareness could transform medicine, animal welfare, law, and AI development. But identifying consciousness in machines, brain organoids, or patients could also force society to rethink responsibility, rights, and moral boundaries. The question of what it means to be conscious has never been more urgent—or more unsettling.
A team of social scientists, neurologists and psychiatrists at the University of Southern California's Brain and Creativity Institute, working with colleagues from the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, the University of Central Florida and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have published a Viewpoint piece in the journal…
The rise in capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) systems has led to the view that these systems might soon be conscious. However, we might be underestimating the neurobiological mechanisms underlying human consciousness.