Mind in the Machine? Cross-Disciplinary Perceptions of Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence
Moradi H, Avellino I, Krauß P, Zanca D, Hein I, Eskofier BM, Flaucher M (2026)
Publication Type: Conference contribution
Publication year: 2026
Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery
Conference Proceedings Title: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Event location: Barcelona
ISBN: 9798400722783
Abstract
As AI systems increasingly display human-like behavior, people often attribute consciousness to these machines, raising questions about anthropomorphism, ethics, and design. We report findings from an online survey (N=553), including academics from the formal sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and a heterogeneous group of other participants. Respondents evaluated perceptions of consciousness in large language models and future AI, alongside related ethical and policy considerations. The results show that, across groups, around half of the participants attributed some degree of consciousness. Individual traits such as gender, academic position, and beliefs regarding consciousness and intelligence of systems strongly shape perceptions, outweighing the effects of technical knowledge or system transparency. Beyond shaping academic discussions, these perspectives inform how AI is designed, governed, and integrated into everyday interactions.
Authors with CRIS profile
Hamid Moradi
Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab
Patrick Krauß
Lehrstuhl für Informatik 5 (Mustererkennung)
Dario Zanca
Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab
Involved external institutions
France (FR)
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Moradi, H., Avellino, I., Krauß, P., Zanca, D., Hein, I., Eskofier, B.M., & Flaucher, M. (2026). Mind in the Machine? Cross-Disciplinary Perceptions of Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence. In Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo Lopez, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. Barcelona, ES: Association for Computing Machinery.
MLA:
Moradi, Hamid, et al. "Mind in the Machine? Cross-Disciplinary Perceptions of Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence." Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026, Barcelona Ed. Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo Lopez, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Association for Computing Machinery, 2026.
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