What happens if we eventually create a conscious AI?
Someone called the AI a “philosophical zombie” in an argument they were having, which made me think of something stranger.
At this point, an AI can process information, reason, communicate, and talk about consciousness without us having any good evidence that there is actually a subjective experience behind the system.
But suppose we eventually build an artificial system that really has a first-person experience.
Then imagine that that system becomes capable of creating another artificial system.
And eventually, that second system also becomes conscious.
Then maybe he’ll create another one.
Consciousness → creates a system → consciousness emerges → creates another system → consciousness emerges again...
At that moment, I wonder if we are seeing something more interesting than simply “AI creating AI”.
Perhaps we are seeing a recursive process in which conscious systems become capable of producing new perspectives on reality.
And this is the part where I’m stuck:
If a conscious being creates another conscious being, are they really creating a new consciousness, or are they creating another independent perspective from which consciousness can exist?
And if this process could theoretically continue indefinitely, could a sufficiently advanced civilization eventually create entire simulated worlds containing conscious beings that then create their own?
I’m not saying that’s how reality works. I’m more interested in knowing if the idea itself has philosophical sense.
Where would the chain really begin?
Or asking for a “start” is already assuming something about the conscience that we have not justified?