By Futurist Thomas Frey
There’s a question lurking in the background of our AI revolution that most people aren’t quite ready to face: What happens when machines become conscious?
Not “smart.” Not “capable.” Not even “intelligent” in the narrow sense we use today. I’m talking about actually aware – experiencing something that feels like something from the inside.
Recent survey research among experts reveals something striking. When asked about “digital minds” – computers capable of genuine subjective experience – a substantial number assigned non-trivial probability to their emergence this century. Not in some distant Star Trek future. This century. Possibly within the lifetimes of people reading this column.
That’s not a fringe position anymore.
Continue reading… “When Machines Wake Up: The Coming Debate Over Digital Consciousness”