The question of whether artificial beings or machines could become self-aware or conscious has been a philosophical question for centuries. The main problem is that self-awareness cannot be observed from an outside perspective and the distinction of being really self-aware or merely a clever imitation cannot be answered without access to knowledge about the mechanism's inner workings. We investigate common machine learning approaches with respect to their potential ability to become self-aware. We realize that many important algorithmic steps toward machines with a core consciousness have already been taken.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; correlates of consciousness; deep learning; global workspace; machine consciousness; machine learning; philosophy of mind; theories of consciousness.
Copyright © 2020 Krauss and Maier.