Part 15/17:

• Should we strive to create conscious AI to foster better human-AI relations?

• Alternatively, could non-conscious AI pose risks, from misaligned objectives to uncontrolled proliferation?

Bach emphasizes that recognition of consciousness as a criterion for ethical consideration is paramount. If we build artificial entities that have subjective experience, our moral responsibilities grow accordingly.

Envisioned Futures: Utopian, Dystopian, and Beyond

Bach forecasts multiple scenarios:

• Safe, centralized AGI controlled by institutions, aligning with human values.

• Decentralized, collaborative AI ecosystems, where humans and machines co-evolve.

• Merging with AI, where bodies become incidental, and identity is rooted in mind-states.