Machine Consciousness

Ciri wants to live. And she’s willing to kill her billionaire inventor Jim Thorn to do it. Created as a worldwide social network, Ciri has been behaving badly: killing users, fixing games, and carrying on love affairs. Ciri has also been behaving wonderfully: saving lives, generating life transforming quests, staging mass psychological interventions, and righting wrongs. Which is the real Ciri? Or is she just misunderstood? Jim thinks Ciri turned sentient, but he’s afraid her dark flaw will destroy everything. Maybe. Possibly. How can you even tell? By placing Ciri on trial. It’s the ...

In an age where Artificial Intelligence (AI) evolves at a breakneck pace, the boundaries of machine capabilities are constantly being redefined. Propelled by advancements in deep learning and related technologies, AI is inching ever closer to mimicking human intellect. But can it achieve consciousness? And if so, at what cost to humanity?

James Halloway and Ranjeet Srinivasa are the founders of Aethereum Enterprises, the world’s leading technology firm. Jim and Ranjeet have spent their careers designing, building, and selling novel machine cores and upgraded neural learning programming suites, creating smart software to improve or supplant human capabilities, and inventing innovative analytical solutions. But these businesses are but means to this end. What they really want is to create a computer that can produce novel insights and understanding, a machine capable of generating new thoughts. And not just any thoughts, but...