Overview
- A lead article in Frontiers in Science by Axel Cleeremans, Anil Seth, and Liad Mudrik argues that advances in AI and neurotechnology are outpacing scientific understanding of consciousness.
- The review says reliable, evidence-based tests could soon help detect awareness in brain-injured patients, animals, lab-grown organoids, and possibly AI systems.
- Authors call for coordinated, theory-led programs using adversarial collaborations and combined phenomenological and mechanistic methods to reduce bias and accelerate progress.
- The paper outlines practical stakes across medicine, mental health, animal welfare, legal standards of intent and culpability, and the development of neurotechnology and robotics.
- Cleeremans warns that creating consciousness, even unintentionally, would raise profound ethical challenges and potential existential risk.