# Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness

**Authors:** Patrick Butlin, Robert Long, Eric Elmoznino, Yoshua Bengio, Jonathan Birch, Axel Constant, George Deane, Stephen M. Fleming, Chris Frith, Xu Ji, Ryota Kanai, Colin Klein, Grace Lindsay, Matthias Michel, Liad Mudrik, Megan A. K. Peters, Eric Schwitzgebel, Jonathan Simon, Rufin VanRullen  
**arXiv:** [2308.08708](https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08708)  
**Date:** 2023-08-17  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2308.08708v1/

## Key points

- Report examines possibility of current or near-term AI systems possessing consciousness
- Researchers advocate for rigorous and empirically grounded approach to assessing AI consciousness
- Use neuroscientific theories to derive "indicator properties" for evaluating AI systems
- Survey prominent scientific theories related to consciousness in AI
- No current AI systems exhibit indicator properties of consciousness
- No apparent barriers to developing conscious AI systems in the future
- Collaborative effort among researchers from different disciplines provides comprehensive overview of current understanding and potential future developments regarding AI consciousness

## Summary

This report on Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence examines the possibility of current or near-term AI systems possessing consciousness. Researchers from various institutions including the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, the Center for AI Safety, and the University of Montreal argue for a rigorous and empirically grounded approach to assessing AI consciousness. They use neuroscientific theories of consciousness to derive "indicator properties" that can be used to evaluate AI systems for signs of consciousness. The report surveys prominent scientific theories such as recurrent processing theory, global workspace theory, higher-order theories, predictive processing, and attention schema theory. While no current AI systems exhibit these indicator properties, there are no apparent barriers to developing conscious AI systems in the future. This collaborative effort among researchers from different disciplines provides a comprehensive overview of our current understanding and potential future developments regarding AI consciousness.