PLENARY: Can intelligent systems be conscious?

Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Paris, FRANCE ABSTRACT: "The concept of consciousness is complex and takes various forms. The fact that an intelligent system can be conscious has long been discussed and the questions are getting louder as we see systems springing up everywhere that seem capable of dialoguing with humans in a very natural way. We propose to look at several facets of consciousness, from phenomenological consciousness linked to perceptions to access consciousness, which gives us information about one’s actions. In 1982 already, Marvin Minsky 1 was considering that self-conscious systems could be done by providing machines with ways to examine their own mechanisms while they are working. Then Jacques Pitrat 2 in 2009 claimed that, for a conscious artificial being, the possibility of monitoring its own thought enables it to explain its decisions so that they can be accepted by others, which goes in the direction of eXplainable AI. A recent study 3 provides a list of indicator properties derived from scientific theories to assess consciousness for an intelligent system. We offer an overview of some interesting aspects of consciousness from the angle of intelligent systems, which can be different from human consciousness, and we wonder to what extent a present or a future system can have such a form of consciousness and what the advantages and drawbacks are.