On this episode, Jeff Sebo joins me to discuss artificial consciousness, substrate-independence, possible tensions between AI risk and AI consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and cognitive complexity, and how intuitive versus intellectual approaches guide our understanding of these topics. We also discuss AI companions, AI rights, and how we might measure consciousness effectively.

You can follow Jeff’s work here.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Preview and intro

00:02:56 Imagining artificial consciousness

00:07:51 Substrate-independence?

00:11:26 Are we making progress?

00:18:03 Intuitions about explanations

00:24:43 AI risk and AI consciousness

00:40:01 Consciousness and cognitive complexity

00:51:20 Intuition versus intellect

00:58:48 AIs as companions

01:05:24 AI rights

01:13:00 Acting under time pressure

01:20:16 Measuring consciousness

01:32:11 How can you help?