A software bot inspired by a popular theory of human consciousness takes the same time as humans to complete simple awareness tasks. Its creators say this feat means we are closer to understanding where consciousness comes from. It also raises the question of whether machines could ever have subjective experiences.
The bot, called LIDA for Learning Intelligent Distribution Agent, is based on "global workspace theory". According to GWT, unconscious processing - the gathering and processing of sights and sounds, for example, is carried out by different, autonomous brain regions working in parallel. We only become conscious of information when it is deemed important enough to be "broadcast" to the global workspace, an assembly of connected neurons that span the brain. We experience this broadcast as consciousness, and it allows information to be shared across different brain regions and acted upon.
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