Will Future AIs Be Conscious? (with Jeff Sebo)

On this episode, Jeff Sebo joins me to discuss artificial consciousness, substrate-independence, possible tensions between AI risk and AI consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and cognitive complexity, and how intuitive versus intellectual approaches guide our understanding of these topics. We also discuss AI companions, AI rights, and how we might measure consciousness effectively.
You can follow Jeff’s work here: jeffsebo.net
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Preview and intro
00:02:56 Imagining artificial consciousness
00:07:51 Substrate-independence?
00:11:26 Are we making progress?
00:18:03 Intuitions about explanations
00:24:43 AI risk and AI consciousness
00:40:01 Consciousness and cognitive complexity
00:51:20 Intuition versus intellect
00:58:48 AIs as companions
01:05:24 AI rights
01:13:00 Acting under time pressure
01:20:16 Measuring consciousness
01:32:11 How can you help?