Artifical Neural Networks (ANNs) & Consciousness Q & A
Q: Could ANNs have already gained consciousness?
A: No. The evolution of intelligence and consciousness in humans took place over untold millions of years. Neurons in the brain are far more complex than their crude analog in ANNs. But it is not the complexity of processing element, and only indirectly the size of the network that matters here, it is the complexity of how they are arranged that result in the extraordinary powers of the human brain. The ANNs we have today are on the level of worm brains.
Q: Are ANNs likely to gain consciousness in the future?
A: No. There is an old science fiction conjecture that if you build a computer that is big enough it will spontaneously become conscious and intelligent. A few entertaining novels had that for a premise, but a little thought shows it is a ridiculous one. It is like supposing if you put enough transistors on a microchip, the software for an operating system and all the applications might spontaneously appear.
Q: What would be required for ANNs to gain consciousness?
A: One would have to meticulously reverse engineer millions of years of evolution (good luck with that) or you would have put a neural network into some kind of forced evolutionary environment where millions of years of evolution could be recapitulation in a short time, another impossibly difficult task.
Q: What would the implications for society be if ANNs were to gain consciousness?
A: If you could ever succeed at forced evolution and created a real neural based AI we might indeed be in trouble as Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others have warned us. Because:
“When it comes to neural networks, we don’t entirely know how they work, and what’s amazing is that we’re starting to build systems we can’t fully understand. Jérôme Pesenti VP of AI at Facebook
Imagine something with human level (or above) intelligence created from a technology that is not really understood through a process (forced evolution) could never be precisely controlled. I would be afraid of it too.
But not to worry, it hasn’t happened, and it never will happen with ANNs.
