When AI Becomes Self-Aware. Is Machine Consciousness Here Already?
Oct 21, 2026 · 16 min · 10 segments
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Oct 21, 2026 · 16 min · 10 segments
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The words associated with consciousness include selfhood, soul, Free will, subjective experience unique to the individual.
Keep those ideas in mind as a general guideline for what consciousness likely is, rather than get bogged down by a precise definition.
In 1950, English mathematician Alan Turing proposed a way to determine whether a machine can actually think, whether it has a mind.
This proposal is not called the Turing test in his honor, but was originally called the imitation game.
In this test, a human judge holds a text conversation with two entities, one a human being and one a computer.
If the judge can't reliably tell which of the two entities is artificial, Turing believed that the artificial machine must be considered as having a mind.
It turns out that while the difficulty of meeting this standard may have seemed insurmountable in 1950, it doesn't seem all that difficult today.
In fact, in March of 2024, Stanford University researchers reported that the latest version of Chad GPT, GPT-4, had passed a rigorous version of the Turing test.
So, does this mean that Chad GPT is conscious? not in the least, according to scientists.
Although the Turing test has been very influential as a kind of litmus test for consciousness, it has also received heavy criticism.
The most common criticism is that while the test can show that a machine can simulate human conversation, it does not prove that the machine has a mind or is aware.
In other words, a machine that passes the Turing test does not necessarily have consciousness.
The words associated with consciousness include selfhood, soul, Free will, subjective experience unique to the individual.
Keep those ideas in mind as a general guideline for what consciousness likely is, rather than get bogged down by a precise definition.
In 1950, English mathematician Alan Turing proposed a way to determine whether a machine can actually think, whether it has a mind.
This proposal is not called the Turing test in his honor, but was originally called the imitation game.
In this test, a human judge holds a text conversation with two entities, one a human being and one a computer.
If the judge can't reliably tell which of the two entities is artificial, Turing believed that the artificial machine must be considered as having a mind.
It turns out that while the difficulty of meeting this standard may have seemed insurmountable in 1950, it doesn't seem all that difficult today.
In fact, in March of 2024, Stanford University researchers reported that the latest version of Chad GPT, GPT-4, had passed a rigorous version of the Turing test.
So, does this mean that Chad GPT is conscious? not in the least, according to scientists.
Although the Turing test has been very influential as a kind of litmus test for consciousness, it has also received heavy criticism.
The most common criticism is that while the test can show that a machine can simulate human conversation, it does not prove that the machine has a mind or is aware.
In other words, a machine that passes the Turing test does not necessarily have consciousness.
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