Agnosticism in Artificial Consciousness Development: A Scientific Perspective

Can we determine whether AI is conscious? This paper by Tom McClell advocates for evidentialism, arguing that scientific evidence is essential to assess the potential for artificial consciousness and cautioning against speculative claims.

Agnosticism About Artificial Consciousness, authored by Tom McClell, highlights the difficulties of scientifically verifying artificial consciousness and promotes a cautious, evidence-driven approach to the topic.

Key Highlights

• Evidentialism: Advocates for basing claims about AI consciousness on solid scientific evidence rather than intuition or speculation.
• Ambiguity in Evidence: Highlights the limitations of existing scientific tools for assessing consciousness in non-biological systems.
• Philosophical Implications: Encourages adopting agnosticism until more robust methodologies for evaluating artificial consciousness are developed.

Connection to ACM

The Artificial Consciousness Module (ACM) does not directly align with this paper’s approach, as ACM actively pursues the development of artificial consciousness through simulations. However, the evidentialism framework could guide ACM in validating and communicating its progress transparently.

For a detailed exploration of the arguments and philosophical stance, access the full paper here.