As artificial intelligence races ahead, a group of leading researchers says the most profound scientific question of all, how consciousness arises, can no longer be postponed. Writing in Frontiers in Science, they argue that the ethical, medical, and societal stakes make it critical to understand awareness before machines or lab-grown brain systems begin to exhibit it.
In their sweeping review, Axel Cleeremans of Universite libre de Bruxelles, Liad Mudrik of Tel Aviv University, and Anil Seth of the University of Sussex describe a field at a turning point. Neuroscience has mapped the brain circuits that correlate with consciousness, but theories still diverge over what mechanisms make experience possible. The authors call for a coordinated scientific effort to test competing models and to prepare for the day when consciousness might appear in artificial or synthetic forms.
“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,” said lead author Prof Axel Cleeremans.
The Rise Of Conscious Machines
The team warns that progress in AI and neurotechnology is outpacing our understanding of consciousness itself. Already, brain-computer interfaces, neural implants, and self-learning algorithms mimic human-like behaviors with uncanny realism. But without a framework for detecting awareness, society risks crossing ethical lines by accident. If a system ever does become conscious, even inadvertently, questions of rights, suffering, and moral responsibility would become unavoidable.
Cleeremans and colleagues outline how scientific “sentience tests” might one day detect awareness in patients with brain injury, developing fetuses, animals, organoids, or AI systems. Such breakthroughs could revolutionize medicine and neuroscience, but they would also force society to reconsider who or what counts as a conscious being.
These tests might draw on leading theories like Global Workspace Theory, which sees consciousness as the brain’s ability to broadcast information globally, and Integrated Information Theory, which links consciousness to how tightly connected a system’s parts are. So far, even in humans, evidence remains divided between these models.
From Ethical Boundaries To Existential Stakes
Beyond the lab, a scientific account of consciousness could transform how humanity governs technology, treats animals, and defines legal intent. Understanding awareness might illuminate why some patients in apparent comas remain mentally present or how much of our own decision-making occurs unconsciously. It could also reshape jurisprudence by challenging ideas like mens rea, the “guilty mind” that underpins criminal law.
As the authors note, neuroscience is already revealing that many behaviors arise before conscious intent: a discovery that could blur long-standing distinctions between choice and compulsion. Likewise, knowing which animals are truly sentient could alter practices in farming, research, and conservation.
“Progress in consciousness science will reshape how we see ourselves and our relationship to both artificial intelligence and the natural world,” said co-author Prof Anil Seth.
The scientists also highlight a more speculative frontier: artificial consciousness. Some theorists believe that computational systems could, in principle, achieve subjective experience if built with the right architecture. Others argue that biological embodiment is essential. Either way, the line between simulating and possessing awareness may soon blur as large language models and neural organoids evolve.
The authors urge policymakers to treat consciousness research as a priority, not a curiosity. Understanding it, they write, will influence everything from end-of-life medicine to prenatal ethics, from mental health to AI governance. Without it, humanity may stumble into creating entities that feel, and suffer, without realizing it.