Why Understanding Consciousness Is Now Urgent In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence

Researchers writing in the journal Frontiers in Science warn that advances in AI and neurotechnology are outpacing our understanding of consciousness, with potentially serious ethical consequences.

Why Explaining Consciousness Is a Scientific Priority

They argue that explaining how consciousness arises, which could one day lead to scientific tests to detect it, is now an urgent scientific and ethical priority. Such an understanding would bring major implications for AI, prenatal policy, animal welfare, medicine, mental health, law, and emerging neurotechnologies such as brain–computer interfaces.

Scientific, clinical, ethical, and societal implications of “solving” consciousness.

From Philosophy to Practical Science

"Consciousness science is no longer a purely philosophical pursuit. It has real implications for every facet of society, and for understanding what it means to be human," said lead author Prof Axel Cleeremans from Université Libre de Bruxelles. "Understanding consciousness is one of the most substantial challenges of 21st-century science, and it's now urgent due to advances in AI and other technologies."

"If we become able to create consciousness, even accidentally, it would raise immense ethical challenges and even existential risk," added Cleeremans, a European Research Council (ERC) grantee.

The Mystery of Consciousness and Sentience Testing

Consciousness, the state of being aware of our surroundings and ourselves, remains one of science's most profound mysteries. Despite decades of research, there remains no consensus on how subjective experience arises from biological processes.

While scientists have made progress in identifying the brain areas and neural processes involved in consciousness, controversy persists regarding which areas and processes are necessary for consciousness and how they contribute to it. Some even wonder if this is the right way to consider the challenge.

Mapping the Current State of Consciousness Science

This new review examines the current state of consciousness science, its potential future directions, and the implications of human success in understanding or even creating consciousness, whether in machines or in lab-grown brain-like systems, such as "brain organoids."

Developing Scientific Tests for Awareness

The authors suggest that tests for consciousness, which provide evidence-based methods for determining whether a being or system is aware, could aid in identifying awareness in patients with brain injuries or dementia, and help determine when it emerges in fetuses, animals, brain organoids, or even AI.

While this would mark a major scientific breakthrough, they warn it would also raise profound ethical and legal challenges about how to treat any system shown to be conscious.

Ethical and Societal Stakes of Consciousness Research

"Progress in consciousness science will reshape how we see ourselves and our relationship to both artificial intelligence and the natural world," said co-author Prof Anil Seth from the University of Sussex and ERC grantee. "The question of consciousness is ancient, but it's never been more urgent than now."

How Consciousness Science Could Transform Society

A better understanding of consciousness could:

• Transform medical care for unresponsive patients once thought to be unconscious. Measurements inspired by integrated information theory and global workspace theory have already revealed signs of awareness in some individuals diagnosed with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome. Further progress could refine these tools to assess consciousness in coma, advanced dementia, and anesthesia, and reshape how we approach treatment and end-of-life care.
• Guide new therapies for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, where understanding the biology of subjective experience may help bridge the gap between animal models and human emotion.
• Clarify our moral duty towards animals by identifying which creatures and systems are sentient. This could affect how we conduct animal research, farm animals, consume animal products, and approach conservation. "Understanding the nature of consciousness in particular animals would transform how we treat them and emerging biological systems that are being synthetically generated by scientists," said co-author Prof Liad Mudrik from Tel Aviv University and ERC grantee.
• Reframe how we interpret the law by illuminating the conscious and unconscious processes involved in decision-making. A new understanding could challenge legal concepts such as mens rea, the "guilty mind" required to establish intent. As neuroscience reveals that unconscious mechanisms drive a significant portion of our behavior, courts may need to reconsider where responsibility begins and ends.
• Shape the development of neurotechnologies such as AI, brain organoids, and brain–computer interfaces, which raise the prospect of producing or modifying awareness beyond biological life. While some suggest that computation alone might support awareness, others argue that biological factors are essential. "Even if 'conscious AI' is impossible using standard digital computers, AI that gives the impression of being conscious raises many societal and ethical challenges," said Seth.

Collaborative Science and Ethical Preparedness

The authors call for a coordinated, evidence-based approach to consciousness. For example, using adversarial collaborations, rival theories are pitted against each other in experiments co-designed by their proponents. "We need more team science to break theoretical silos and overcome existing biases and assumptions," said co-author Prof Liad Mudrik. "This step has the potential to move the field forward."

The researchers also urge more attention to phenomenology (what consciousness feels like) to complement the study of what it does (its function).

"Cooperative efforts are essential to make progress, and to ensure society is prepared for the ethical, medical, and technological consequences of understanding, and perhaps creating, consciousness," said Cleeremans.

Key Theories Explaining Consciousness

Global Workspace Theory suggests that consciousness arises when information is made available and shared across the brain via a specialized global workspace, which is used by different functions, such as action and memory.

Higher-Order Theories propose that a thought or feeling represented in some brain states only becomes conscious when there is another brain state that "points at it," signaling that "this is what I am conscious of now." They align with the intuition that being conscious of something means being aware of one's own mental state.

Integrated Information Theory posits that a system is conscious if its parts are highly connected and integrated in specific ways defined by the theory, aligning with the notion that every conscious experience is both unified and highly informative.

Predictive Processing Theory suggests that what we experience is the brain's best guess about the world, based on predictions of what something will look or feel like, checked against sensory signals.