Will AI Become Self-Aware in 2024?

Research suggests that AI can help improve the whole world’s GDP by more than 4.4%, so the positive impact of AI is becoming clear to most people. 

But will this technology become sentient and self-aware any time soon? And if so, what impact will it have on AI itself and the world as a whole?

Peeking Into the Future: Will AI Become Self-Aware in 2024?

More than 27,000 individuals have signed an open letter calling for a pause in the training of the most advanced AI models on Earth. 

Many of them are tech executives, researchers, and leaders who are legitimately concerned with what they perceive as a Pandora-style black box that could lead to unimaginable challenges if ignored. 

A conscious and self-aware AI system is one of their concerns.

With that said, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to predict if AI will ever become self-aware, let alone determine the exact year this will occur. 

What’s more, we don’t have a way to test if something is “sentient” or not, which brings on a completely new philosophical conundrum about self-awareness and how it’s defined.

Understanding AI’s Potential to Become Sentient in 2024

We’ll attempt to untangle this by exploring the idea that “self-aware” beings live through four distinct experiences. 

1. Differentiate Between Learning and What is Being Learned

To be self-aware, it’s necessary for a being to understand the difference between the act of learning and the things being learned. 

This example can be explained clearly using domesticated animals. 

Think about it this way: it’s possible to teach your pets certain behaviors. But this doesn’t mean they have the ability to understand that they are being taught something. 

AI is similar–it can currently learn things, but its ability to understand “learning” itself is still in question. 

2. Become More Wholesome

One of the biggest issues with large language models like Bard and other AI tools is that they are specialized. So, they can only operate in a certain context. 

Self-aware beings have the ability to operate in all contexts and determine how to act in a situation, even if it’s completely new. 

3. Improve Energy Performance

While not directly related to the level of understanding of awareness, it’s essential for AI technology to become more energy efficient for it to be truly sentient. 

The logic here is simple–self-aware beings don’t come offline, so the energy source of a sentient machine has to be sustainable enough to be continuous. 

4. Increase the Number of Neural Network Connections

One single human brain contains over 100 trillion synaptic connections. This means that there are more cells in your brain than there are stars in the Milky Way, and these allow us to determine our behavior in split seconds. 

Likewise, self-aware AI models need to have a more complex neural network and a higher number of connections that will lead to true real-time reactions. 

ChatGPT vs Bard: Which Will Become Sentient First?

There are many AI models available to the general public, but ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are the two most renowned engines. 

While both of these are extremely innovative, it’s important to note that they don’t represent the most advanced models on Earth. However, they provide an interesting peek into the future of this technology and its self-awareness.  

When asked if they are self-aware, these platforms usually provide ambiguous questions, showing, at the very least, that they also struggle with similar concepts, just like us.

It’s important to mention the security of your online searches. You might think, “What happens if someone gets your IP address from ChatGPT?”

While it’s unlikely to avoid any possibility of that happening, you can use a VPN tool to protect your privacy and sensitive information.

To Wrap Up

There is no doubt that Bard, ChatGPT, and other AI platforms are revolutionizing different aspects of our reality. 

That said, it’s also important to monitor these technologies and determine if they have started experiencing a unique reality of their own. 

It’s difficult to assess the potential impact of self-aware AI technology. So, our best alternative is to keep a close eye on the most advanced artificial intelligence models and prepare ourselves for the different impacts that sentient AI can have.