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A warning about 'model welfare'

242 points · 701 comments · andsoitis

  1. qarl · · focus · HN ↗
    Birch, The Edge of Sentience (2024), ch. 16 - "simply no way to assess sentience in an LLM"

    Schwitzgebel, AI and Consciousness (2025) - "we won't know before we've already manufactured thousands or millions of disputably conscious AI".

    Butlin, Long et al., Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness (2023) - "no obvious technical barriers to building AI systems which satisfy these indicators".

    Chalmers, Could a Large Language Model Be Conscious? (2023) - "within the next decade, we may well have systems that are serious candidates for consciousness".

    Long, Sebo, Butlin, Birch et al., Taking AI Welfare Seriously (2024) - "there is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic in the near future".

    Dreksler, Caviola, Chalmers, Sebo et al., Subjective Experience in AI Systems: What Do AI Researchers and the Public Believe? (2025) - survey of 582 AI researchers; median estimate of 25% by 2034, and only 10% that such systems will never exist.

    1. bionhoward · · focus · HN ↗
      Me, Is self-awareness thermodynamically favorable? (2015) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;docs.google.com&#x2F;document&#x2F;d&#x2F;1Ed9ikW47Key-jYZy0CNZH75qm_7221lty4rhzDCLtks&#x2F;edit?usp=drivesdk" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;docs.google.com&#x2F;document&#x2F;d&#x2F;1Ed9ikW47Key-jYZy0CNZH75q... - “the probabilistic nature of reality is what drives Life and forces the evolution of self-aware consciousness”
      1. Kim_Bruning · · focus · HN ↗
        Have you looked at the logistic map as well? There&#x27;s a fourth domain there. O:-)
        1. bionhoward · · focus · HN ↗
          whoa
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