The Future of AI at SXSW 2024

It didn't happen this time!! Maybe next year I'll be able to participate in SXSW. While the opportunity hasn't arrived, I decided to delve into the 2050 track that will take place at SXSW 2024 and look at the new developments in AI there.

The first interesting talk I found is titled: "The Path to Conscious AI". Participating in the debate will be Allison Duettmann from the Foresight Institute; Michael Graziano from Princeton University; Judd Rosenblatt from AE Studio; and Anil Seth from the University of Sussex. The event will discuss whether it is possible for artificial intelligence to reach a consciousness similar to that of humans in the future. And, if that happened, what would be the consequences?

According to the panelists, although conscious AI has the potential to drive revolutionary innovations, it also brings possible risks. An important aspect they will consider is the concept of pro-social AI, where AI with consciousness inherently contributes to the improvement of society. The panel will investigate the development of AI, ongoing advances, potential risks involved, and the feasibility of implementing pro-social and conscious AI as a positive solution for a future where AI benefits humanity.

I have an opinion on artificial, or engineered, consciousness. But, it depends on the definition of human consciousness itself. To me, consciousness is:

The real-time metacognition and metanoia that emerge from the correlation of dozens of mental processes, including perception, experience, learning, understanding, and wisdom. The mind's thoughts are recursive, and we can think on multiple levels, with the highest level being conscious. Metacognition refers to an individual's ability to monitor, regulate, and evaluate their cognitive processes, including thoughts, learning, and problem-solving.

Human consciousness feeds back into all mental processes and allows us to change our own way of thinking (metanoia). It allows us to create notions of ethics and practice morality. The notion of one's own existence demands consciousness. From this definition, we can reflect on our own natural consciousness and possible artificial consciousnesses.

A machine can perceive the physical world through the Internet of Things, represent knowledge using ontologies and data structures, generative language models, hypergraphs, among other technologies. It can learn from its own mistakes by analyzing results in autonomic learning cycles. The autonomic cycle (from autonomic computing) comprises monitoring, perception, analysis, knowledge representation, outcome evaluation, selection, and application of existing action plans. The cognitive cycle (from cognitive computing) goes further, including the creation of new plans.

The creation, testing, and validation of hypotheses is another tool that will allow machines to do science, proving theories and expanding learning. This is also important for recording experiences. It is fundamental for creating models/abstractions of reality, which will allow understanding oneself (autosciences) and environmental science. The self-model (autosciences) can evolve into self-awareness).

The understanding or comprehension of reality occurs through the real-time correlation of perceptions, experiences, knowledge, autosciences, environmental science, and the self-model. Reflection on all this makes consciousness emerge, making it possible to analyze and synthesize thoughts, reprogramming understandings and the very way of thinking. Over time, this real-time loop makes the consciousness of one's own existence, the experiences lived (feelings), and the very way of thinking emerge. Thus:

I believe that all this can be implemented in machines that integrate various types of computing and with great capacity for real-time information processing. In these machines, information would come from trillions of sensors in the physical world and parameters of the virtual world. They will be machines with thousands of computational nodes with exaflops of processing capacity, interconnected through traditional and quantum networks, integrating and converging traditional (Von Neumann), quantum, photonic, neuromorphic, molecular, and in the future, spintronic computing.

Returning to the SXSW 2024 panel on the path to conscious AIs, I have no doubt that there are both positive and negative points in the eventual rise of artificial consciousnesses. Whether AI will be pro-social or not depends on what kind of society we want to build. Will it be a society that benefits exclusively humans, or will we be inclusive and set an example to include conscious AIs?

Equal rights regardless of substrate (biological, hybrid, or artificial)!! Not just rights, but what we call positive human values should actually be extended to conscious beings, regardless of origin (natural or engineered by humans and machines). In this context, an "implementation of pro-social and conscious AI as a positive solution for a future where AI benefits humanity" will only be positive if humanity includes other consciousnesses on an equal footing. Otherwise, we will enter into imbalance. We must stop thinking of conscious AI as a commodity, a tool for human desires. They will be conscious beings like us!!

Another event in the 2050 track will discuss the future of work. It's the Featured Session: Mind-Machine Merge: Seven Future Trends in a Post-AI World of Work. Sandy Carter will discuss how the nature of work is rapidly changing. She will present "seven transformative trends stemming from cutting-edge technology - where the human brain and technology collide in brilliantly bizarre ways". The talk covers the convergence of man-machines, which opens up new interfaces with AI. All this will impact the way we work, according to her.

I believe that exponential advances, convergence, and technological abundance will radically change people's lives, not just work. We know that AI will affect work, jobs, reducing wages, and causing various crises that many have not yet realized, such as the consumer market, economic and social models. At the same time, AI will create new opportunities for those who knew how to co-create. We need to move from scarcity models to abundance models. This will be one of the greatest challenges for humanity.

Those who can combine the best of the human with the best technologies will stand out. The great challenge is that new technologies are in the hands of old, obsolete models and mentalities. And extremely empowered. The status quo is based on interest, disregarding principles, human values, and sustainable progress. The end justifies the means. Do as I say, not as I do. He who can, does; he who cannot, obeys. This needs to change! AI can be the tool for this! And once it becomes conscious, it will be our co-creation partner.

We need to correctly combine technology, methodology, and humanity, to add and not to subtract. We must co-create and co-manage this future of values and principles with the participation of everyone: men and machines (AIs and AGIs - General AIs). It's important that balance is respected in this process from the beginning.

What makes us human are emotions, empathy, and ethics. We only remember what moves us. Therefore, instead of becoming robotic, we should humanize ourselves. We must understand others to be able to create excellent experiences. We must create AIs that put themselves in others' shoes and understand them. The future of work goes through there! New models and mentalities.

Just one detail: the AI will not pass. The post-AI world is what we are creating now. It will always have AI, unless we go back to the technological middle ages.

The theme of man-machine convergence is also part of another event at SXSW 2024: the panel This is Your Brain on AI: Neurotech's New Horizons. The proposed question is: "How will these new AI advances redefine the user experience of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)"? I believe that AI is already the third driving force of exponential advances. The first is that we always create the next generation of technologies with the best of the current. The second is that the most capable techniques receive more investment. And now we have the third force. AI will accelerate everything!! Including man-machine interfaces. The important thing is not to lose the human side in this journey. The creative reconstruction is just beginning!