Are Machines Conscious?

Amol Kelkar, an AI, AGI and Machine Consciousness Research Scientist based in the United States participate in Risk Roundup to discuss Machine Consciousness. Are Machines Conscious? Over the years, many have wondered, can machines think? While many agree that, someday thinking machines can exist, there are also some who say thinking machines are already here. So, irrespective of whether thinking machines are here or not, what exactly is thinking to machines? Can machines think? Or does it simply control symbols it has no understanding of? If machines do understand what they are doing, is it called thinking? The answers to this question depend entirely on perhaps how we understand thinking and consciousness in machines. But as we see the term consciousness is itself caught in this endless explosion of meaning and there is no agreed central definition of consciousness—it is perhaps time to evaluate the fundamentals of machine consciousness. Time is now to understand the fundamentals of machine consciousness! For more please watch the Risk Roundup Webcast or hear the Risk Roundup Podcast About the Guest Amol Kelkar is an Artificial Intelligence (AI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Machine Consciousness Research Scientist based in the United States. He is also a Chief Technology Officer. Over the last 25 years, he has worked in cognitive neuroscience, Bayesian statistics, evolutionary biology, psychology and philosophy that has brought forward a set of common themes to understand perception, inference, attention, action, emotion, agency and consciousness. He feels that the recent advancements in deep learning technologies and hardware capabilities have enabled scientists to explore novel computational architectures to test some of these ideas—and the time is right to approach consciousness and artificial general intelligence with scientific rigor. He explores these uncharted waters, with the free energy principle, active inference, predictive coding and homeostasis as guiding posts. He is currently working on an RBM inspired deep predictive neural network architecture for sensory perception and action. Longer term goal for the architecture is to model conscious agency, presence, selfhood, awareness, attention and some other attributes of consciousness.  About the Host of Risk Roundup Jayshree Pandya (née Bhatt), Founder and CEO of Risk Group LLC, is a scientist, a visionary, an expert in disruptive technologies, a Forbes contributor and a globally recognized thought leader and influencer. She is actively engaged in driving global discussions on existing and emerging technologies, technology transformation, and national preparedness. From the National Science Foundation to organizations from across nations, Jayshree is an invited speaker on emerging technologies, technology transformation, digital disruption, strategic security risks, industry risks, and country risks. She is the author of the book, The Global Age: NGIOA @ Risk and has also published many scientific and technical papers.  Jayshree advises decision-makers at all levels on existing and emerging technologies: emerging applications, impact, and solutions. About Risk Roundup Risk Roundup, a global initiative launched by Risk Group, is a security risk reporting for risks emerging from existing and emerging technologies, technology convergence and transformation happening across cyberspace, geospace and space. Risk Roundup is released in both audio (Podcast) and video (Webcast) format and is available for subscription at (Risk Group Website, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher Radio, Android, and Risk Group Professional Social Media). About Risk Group Risk Group LLC, a leading strategic security risk research and reporting organization, is a private organization committed to improving the state of risk-resilience through collective participation, and reporting of cyber-security, geo-security, and space-security risks in the spirit of global peace through risk management. Incorporated as a limited liability corporation and headquartered in Sugar land TX, Risk Group is independent, impartial and not tied to any interests. Best known for its Risk Roundup initiative, Risk Group, publishes benchmark Risk Roundup Webcast and Podcast reports on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Quantum Computing, Virtual Reality, Synthetic Biology, Big Data, Drones, Nanosatellites, Cyber-Security, Geo-Security, Space-Security, Cyber Warfare, Electronic Warfare, Dual-Use Technologies. Risk, Risk Management, Resilience, Wearables, Technology Trends, Strategic Security, Futurism and much more. The rapidly growing Risk Roundup Community is a beacon of hope for the future of humanity. Copyright Risk Group LLC. All Rights Reserved The post Are Machines Conscious? appeared first on Risk Group.