EA - Panel discussion on AI consciousness with Rob Long and Jeff Sebo by Aaron Bergman

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Panel discussion on AI consciousness with Rob Long and Jeff Sebo, published by Aaron Bergman on September 10, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.IntroRecent 80k guest and philosopher specializing in AI consciousness Rob Long (@rgb) recently participated in a panel discussion on his paper "Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness" (pdf) with co-authors Patrick Butlin, Yoshua Bengio, and Grace Lindsay and moderator Jeff Sebo (@jeffsebo).You can watch it on Youtube (below), watch/listen as a podcast on Spotify , or read the transcript below.Paper abstractWhether current or near-term AI systems could be conscious is a topic of scientific interest and increasing public concern. This report argues for, and exemplifies, a rigorous and empirically grounded approach to AI consciousness: assessing existing AI systems in detail, in light of our best-supported neuroscientific theories of consciousness. We survey several prominent scientific theories of consciousness, including recurrent processing theory, global workspace theory, higher-order theories, predictive processing, and attention schema theory. From these theories we derive "indicator properties" of consciousness, elucidated in computational terms that allow us to assess AI systems for these properties. We use these indicator properties to assess several recent AI systems, and we discuss how future systems might implement them.Our analysis suggests that no current AI systems are conscious, but also suggests that there are no obvious technical barriers to building AI systems which satisfy these indicators.Youtube descriptionThis event took place on Tuesday September 5, 2023 and was hosted by the NYU Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program.About the eventThis panel discussion featured four authors from the recently released and widely discussed AI consciousness report. This report argues for, and exemplifies, a rigorous and empirically grounded approach to AI consciousness: assessing existing AI systems in detail, in light of the best-supported neuroscientific theories of consciousness. The paper surveys several prominent scientific theories of consciousness, including recurrent processing theory, global workspace theory, higher-order theories, predictive processing, and attention schema theory. From these theories the authors derive "indicator properties" of consciousness, elucidated in computational terms that allow them to assess AI systems for these properties. They use these indicator properties to assess several recent AI systems, and discuss how future systems might implement them.In this event, the authors summarized the report, offered perspectives from philosophy, cognitive science, and computer science, and responded to questions and comments.About the panelistsPatrick Butlin is a philosopher of mind and cognitive science and a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. His current research is on consciousness, agency and other mental capacities and attributes in AI.Robert Long is a Research Affiliate at the Center for AI Safety. He recently completed his PhD in philosophy at New York University, during which he also worked as a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute. He works on issues related to possible AI consciousness and sentience.Yoshua Bengio is recognized worldwide as one of the leading experts in artificial intelligence, known for his conceptual and engineering breakthroughs in artificial neural networks and deep learning. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at Université de Montréal and the Founder and Scientific Director of Mila - Quebec AI Institute, one of the world's largest academic institutes in deep learning. He is also the Scientific Direc...