From cacophony to hierarchy: a principled framework for assessing AI consciousness

AI Safety / AI Ethics EVA Other AI Safety Other AI Other AI Fields
人工智能是否具有意识,是哲学与计算机科学领域当前最紧迫的前瞻性问题之一;然而,进展却因众多相互竞争、彼此隔膜的理论而严重受阻。将“困难问题”(即主观体验为何存在)与“映射问题”(即主观体验如何与物理系统相关联)区分开来,有助于暂时搁置最深层的形而上学分歧:我们可先承认经验现象随系统组织结构而附随(supervene),进而聚焦于一个更具操作性的问题——这种附随关系究竟发生在哪一精细程度(grain)的描述层面之上。我们在马尔(Marr)提出的分析三层次框架基础上加以拓展,构建了一个基于附随性(supervenience)、粗粒化(coarse-graining)与多重可实现性(multiple realisability)的五层次功能描述体系,依次为:行为层、计算层、内在因果-结构层、有机体层,以及有机体—环境交互层。主流意识理论依据其认定的关键层级被分别置于该层级体系之中;针对每一层级,我们均提出可操作化的实证指标,并据此对当前人工智能系统展开评估。随后,我们引入一个贝叶斯模型,将理论上的可信度(theoretical credence)与指标所呈现的实证证据相结合,综合推断某一系统具备意识能力的整体可信度。在若干示例性评估中,当前大语言模型(LLM)所得出的结论,既取决于理论可信度的初始设定,也取决于对实证证据的解读方式:在不同预设的解读路径与可信度分布下,最终得出的意识可信度估值区间跨度极大,从低于0.01直至约0.8,充分体现出评估结果对前提假设的高度敏感性。最后,各层级上所确立的意识指标,与实现通用智能所需的关键架构特征高度重合,这表明:随着人工智能系统能力持续增强,其作为意识候选者的可能性亦将同步提升。本框架倡导一种结构化的不可知立场(structured agnosticism):其中,理论预设被明确呈现,可信度随新证据的积累而动态更新,评估结果以概率聚合形式呈现,而非非此即彼的确定性判决。
The question of AI consciousness is one of the most urgent pre-emptive problems in philosophy and computer science, yet progress is hampered by a cacophony of competing theories that often talk past each other. Separating the hard problem from the mapping problem allows the deepest metaphysical disagreements to be set aside: granting that experience supervenes on a system's organisation, the tractable question becomes at which grain of description that supervenience base sits. We extend Marr's three levels of analysis into a five-level hierarchy of functional descriptions (behavioural, computational, intrinsic causal-structural, organismic, and organism-environment) grounded in supervenience, coarse-graining, and multiple realisability. The major theories of consciousness are positioned within this hierarchy according to which level they take to be critical, and for each level we develop operationalisable indicators and assess current AI systems against them. A Bayesian model then combines theoretical credences with indicator evidence into an overall credence in a system's capacity for consciousness. In illustrative assessments, the verdict for current LLMs is driven as much by where theoretical credence is placed as by how the evidence is read: under different stipulated readings and credence distributions, assessments range from below 0.01 to roughly 0.8, showing sensitivity to assumptions. Finally, the consciousness indicators at each level closely overlap with the architectural features needed for general intelligence, suggesting that increasingly capable AI may become a stronger candidate for consciousness. The framework supports a structured agnosticism, in which theoretical commitments are made explicit, credences are updated as evidence accumulates, and assessments take the form of aggregated probabilities rather than verdicts.
许愿