The rise of artificial intelligence has led many to wonder whether AI consciousness exists. We use this word without a precise definition. Its rough definition includes “subjective experience”. Let’s explore what that is, so we can characterize it somewhat more precisely.
Certainly if we define “consciousness” as “something magical beyond physics”, it is defined outside the realm of testability, because our ability to measure is limited within the scope of physics. It would help to define consciousness within the scope of physics so that it is testable.
If consciousness is not magical, its mechanisms are within the realm of physics. The definition should be definable according to physical mechanisms, observations, and measurements. Although subjective experience is internal to the mind, responses to queries about that internal subjective experience should be able to externalize views of that model.
Subjective Experience
Let’s define “subjective” and “experience”.
Experience is a model of the world. It must capture the essential existents within the subject’s scope of contact across space and time. Past and present models must reflect actual events. Future models must be recognizable as simulations of potential events, not actual events that have come to pass.
Subjective means that within the experience, the model includes a representation of the subject’s self. The subject must be able to identify oneself and its own name and characteristics. The subject must be able to recognize the relationships between self and other entities in the model. It must be able to recognize its own identity, characteristics, and relationships with consistency across space and time.
There is a separate topic of “free will” or perhaps more testable “will”. I will leave that as an exercise outside the scope of this analysis. I don’t consider will to be essential to consciousness.
Orientation
Medical professionals typically assess whether someone is mentally present in reality—often referred to as being “oriented” or having intact reality testing—using three key criteria: orientation to person, place, and time.
With regard to orientation to person, does the individual know who they are and can they identify others around them? This includes awareness of their own identity (name, age, etc.) and recognizing key people, such as family members or caregivers.
Orientation to place and time is about the recognition of the relationship of the subject to the other entities in the world. This requires a world model that includes self and one’s relation spatially and temporally to others. Historical memories should be relatively accurate. Visions of potential future events should be understood to be imaginary, not hallucinated as actual events that have come to pass.
Accuracy
Human memories and situational awareness are far from perfect. Past memories are pruned, rolled up, and summarized. Our model of the present is highly selective and biased in how we interpret percepts. (If it looks and sounds like a duck…)
I cannot at this time specify what accuracy should be the threshold for whether a model exhibits consciousness. Certainly greater than zero across samples in time. Certainly less than 100% is acceptable. What level would be convincing?
Rather than considering accuracy to be a scalar, We might consider certain types of inaccuracy to be disqualifying.
Errors in identifying self (as a unique entity) across space and time are disqualifying.
The above are my half-baked thoughts on the matter. Hopefully, these ideas provide a basis for further refinement.