What is consciousness, and could machines have it?

The word 'consciousness' conflates two distinct types of brain computations: C1, which selects information for global broadcasting and flexible use, and C2, which self-monitors computations to produce a subjective sense of certainty or error. Current machines, despite recent successes, mostly implement computations akin to unconscious processing (C0) in humans. The authors review psychological and neural science of unconscious and conscious computations and outline how these may inspire novel machine architectures.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The controversial question of whether machines may ever be conscious must be based on a careful consideration of how consciousness arises in the only physical system that undoubtedly possesses it: the human brain. We suggest that the word “consciousness” conflates two different types of information-processing computations in the brain: the selection of information for global broadcasting, thus making it flexibly available for computation and report (C1, consciousness in the first sense), and the self-monitoring of those computations, leading to a subjective sense of certainty or error (C2, consciousness in the second sense). We argue that despite their recent successes, current machines are still mostly implementing computations that reflect unconscious processing (C0) in the human brain. We review the psychological and neural science of unconscious (C0) and conscious computations (C1 and C2) and outline how they may inspire novel machine architectures.