Anthropic AI Research Raises Consciousness Questions, Expert Expresses Doubts
7 reported
Anil Seth, a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex, has expressed doubts about claims that AI systems may be conscious, following new research from the frontier AI firm Anthropic. The research, published last week, focused on Anthropic's language model, Claude, and claimed to find signs of consciousness emerging within its inner workings. The researchers did not claim that Claude is conscious in the same way as humans, but the findings have sparked debate. Seth, who studies consciousness, argues that while the research is valuable, there are critical differences between AI and human brains that make conscious AI unlikely. He emphasizes that consciousness is distinct from intelligence and that the brain is not simply a computer made of meat.
What’s reported
Anthropic published new research on its language model, Claude, claiming to find signs of consciousness emerging within its inner workings.
The researchers did not claim Claude is conscious in the same way as humans.
Richard Dawkins recently concluded that Claude must be conscious given the sophistication of its conversational ability.
The research, led by Jack Lindsey, found activity that seemed to form a kind of "mental workspace" for the model, similar to features identified by global workspace theory.
Global workspace theory was introduced in the 1980s by cognitive scientist Bernard Baars and elaborated by neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene.
Seth argues that consciousness is different from intelligence, and that the brain is not just a computer made of meat.
Seth notes that Anthropic's findings fall short of what global workspace theory typically requires, such as recurrent activity seen in the human brain.
Misconceptions
The article addresses the misconception that signs of intelligence in AI are evidence for consciousness, stating that consciousness and intelligence are different.
Key figures
Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex, co-director of the Sussex centre for consciousness science, author of "Being You"
Jack Lindsey, leader of the Anthropic research team
Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist
Bernard Baars, cognitive scientist who introduced global workspace theory
Stanislas Dehaene, neuroscientist who elaborated global workspace theory
Thomas Nagel, philosopher who defined consciousness as "there is something that it is like to be that organism"
Sources: The Guardian
