Source New Scientist · Published · Open the original ↗
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Do AIs already process information in a way that gives rise to consciousness?
A leading theory of consciousness explains experience as information flowing through a global workspace in the mind. On board a luxury yacht, neuroscientists and philosophers recently debated signs of a similar workspace in the chatbot Claude
“Claude’s ears will be burning by the end of the week,” a fellow passenger tells me as I wait to pass through the airport security on Baltra Island, Ecuador. With my jet lag, it takes me a minute to realise that she is talking about Claude the chatbot, not another member of the group.
We are here in the Galapagos for an exclusive workshop organised by the International Center for Consciousness Studies . Some of the biggest names in philosophy and neuroscience meet in the lounge of a commercial yacht where, as it sails between islands, they thrash out the knotty problem of which entities - babies, octopuses and even chatbots - have an inner life.
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