Lead author Prof Axel Cleeremans from Universite Libre de Bruxelles explained, "Consciousness science is no longer a purely philosophical pursuit. It has real implications for every facet of society - and for understanding what it means to be human. Understanding consciousness is one of the most substantial challenges of 21st-century science - and it's now urgent due to advances in AI and other technologies. If we become able to create consciousness - even accidentally - it would raise immense ethical challenges and even existential risk."
The review finds that the state of being aware - consciousness - remains one of science's greatest mysteries. Decades of research have made progress in mapping neural processes, yet there is still no consensus on how subjective experience forms or which processes are critical. The report surveys leading theories including global workspace, higher-order, integrated information, and predictive processing, exploring how each proposes consciousness emerges.
The authors detail that new evidence-based tests for consciousness may soon be possible. These could detect awareness in brain-injured patients, animals, laboratory-grown brain organoids, and possibly AI. Such breakthroughs are likely to challenge existing medical, ethical, and legal models, affecting treatment approaches and protocols for patients, animals, and machines.
Co-author Prof Anil Seth from the University of Sussex said, "Progress in consciousness science will reshape how we see ourselves and our relationship to both artificial intelligence and the natural world. The question of consciousness is ancient - but it's never been more urgent than now."
+ Transforming care for unconscious patients, with refined diagnostic tools potentially reshaping clinical practices around coma, dementia, and anesthesia.
+ Guiding new mental health therapies, especially for depression and schizophrenia, with an improved understanding of how biology shapes subjective experience.
+ Clarifying duties towards animals by identifying sentient species, affecting farming, research, and conservation ethics. "Understanding the nature of consciousness in particular animals would transform how we treat them and emerging biological systems that are being synthetically generated by scientists," said co-author Prof Liad Mudrik.
+ Reshaping legal frameworks as advances in neuroscience challenge the boundaries between conscious and unconscious decision-making, potentially revising court standards for intent and culpability.
+ Influencing neurotechnology and robotics development, as computation and biological factors are debated for their role in creating or simulating awareness. Some suggest that digital computation may not support true consciousness; however, AI systems that appear sentient raise new societal and ethical challenges.
The authors call for a coordinated, evidence-based approach utilizing adversarial collaborations in experimentation, pushing team science to overcome theoretical divisions and biases. Phenomenology - the study of subjective experience - should complement mechanistic research to drive progress. Cleeremans emphasizes that such collective efforts will be crucial to ensure society is prepared for the consequences of understanding or creating consciousness.
+ Higher-order theories claim that experiences become conscious only when registered and pointed at by other brain states.
+ Integrated information theory holds that consciousness emerges from systems that are highly integrated and unified.
+ Predictive processing theory suggests conscious experience is based on the brain's best predictions, refined through sensory feedback.
Research Report:Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?
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