With the recent public AI boom, there has been a renewed discussion on whether AI is conscious or can become conscious.
To me, that’s missing the point a bit.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an opportunity to differentiate between (a) consciousness and (b) the content of consciousness.
CONTENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS
AI is about the content of consciousness, which can – to some extent – be mimicked by machines. AI can produce text, images, music, videos, etc. that look like they could have been made by humans.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness itself is very different.
Consciousness is what we are. It’s what, to us, any content of experience happens within and as. It’s what forms itself into any and all content of experience
STATISTICS, NOT INTELLIGENCE
In general, I think the name “artificial intelligence” is slightly misleading. It’s overselling it a bit. It’s more accurate to call it predictive text, or predictive music and image generation.
It’s statistics, not intelligence. It’s the product of intelligence, not intelligence itself.
A FEW MORE WORDS
What do I mean by the content of consciousness? Whatever is produced by AI is similar to what’s produced by consciousness, at least consciousness operating through a human self. It’s images, words, sounds, and so on. It’s all content of consciousness. It’s all an experience that comes and goes.
What do I mean by consciousness? To ourselves, we are consciousness. If we “have” consciousness, it means that to ourselves, we ARE conscousness. To us, the world and any experience happen within and as the consciousness we are. (Night dreams and waking life are the same in that way.) Consciousness itself is distinctly different from any particular content of consciousness. Even as, to us, any content of consciousness is consciousness.
What about the AI name? There is nothing wrong with it, and it is sexy and catchy so I understand why people use it. I just think it’s important to include a more accurate and boring description as well, like “predictive text” and “predictive image generation”. It brings it down to earth a bit. It sobers it up.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
There is a bigger picture here.
AI is the product of the inherent intelligence of existence. It’s a product of 13.8 billion years of evolution of the seamless system we call the universe, locally expressed as this living planet and human biology, technology, and civilization. The intelligence of existence is expressed in all we see and know, including AI.
And if the universe itself IS consciousness, then AI is perhaps more similar to us than most of us imagine. Then AI too is a typical content of consciousness (words, images, etc.) happening within and as consciousness.
Image: A sacred bronze sculpture imagined by me and Midjourney earlier this year.
INITIAL NOTES
- ai & consciousness
- there is some discussion around “is ai conscious”?
- to me, that’s missing the point a bit
…..
With the recent public AI boom, there has been a renewed discussion of whether AI is conscious or can become conscious.
AI, consciousness, and content of consciousness
AI is about content of consciousness which can, to some extent, be mimicked by machines
Consciousness itself is very different
It’s what we are, it’s what any content of experience happens within and as, it’s what forms itself into content of experience
Also think it’s a kind of misnomer when used to refer to what we see today, better to call it predictive text / image / music generation etc
I find it interesting since it depicts consciousness, and specifically consciousness aware of itself or resting in and as a noticing of itself as all there is. While the image itself is a bit devoid of consciousness. It does have a kind of impersonal absence we often find in AI-generated images. The contrast is slightly interesting to me.