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A Theoretical Computer Science Lens on Consciousness: AI Consciousness is Inevitable
Lenore Blum
Carnegie Mellon University, United States of America
We look at consciousness through the lens of Theoretical Computer Science, a branch of mathematics that studies computation under resource limitations. From this perspective, we are developing a formal mathematical model for consciousness, the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM). We are inspired by Alan Turing’s simple yet powerful model of computation, the Turing Machine (TM), and Bernard Baars’ global workspace model (GWM) of consciousness, although the CTM is neither a TM nor a GWM. Neither is it a model of the brain; it is way to simple for that. Nevertheless, the model (1) aligns at a high level with many of the major scientific theories of human consciousness, (2) provides explanations at a high level for phenomena associated with consciousness, (3) gives insight into how a machine might have subjective consciousness, and (4) is clearly buildable. This combination supports our claim that machine consciousness is not only plausible but inevitable. I will present a brief overview of the model’s architecture and dynamics (including its global broadcasting system), indicate how Brainish, CTM’s self-generated multi-modal internal language co-evolves with CTM’s Model-of-the-World (MotW), and how the two work together to produce CTM’s feeling of consciousness.
