Author: Oliver Lack
The University of Adelaide,
School of Psychology | Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML)
Description: This research examines human perceptions of Artificial Intelligence. The research components concern human behaviour and usage of rapidly developing AI systems. Particularly, there is focus on human perceptions of machine consciousness (PMC), with respect to the growth of anthropomorphic features in various AI systems. The projects below concern works for publication and thesis towards an MPhil/PhD. Overall, this work aims to pave an empirical foundation for an understanding of PMC in real-world machines.
Supervision Team: Professor Carolyn Semmler, Professor Anton Van Den Hengel, and Dr Jonathan Opie.
Research Questions
| RQ1. How can perceptions of machine consciousness (PMC) be measured? | 1.1 Can related measures be collapsed, adapted, and validated?
| 1.2 Where does PMC belong in the cognitive dimensionality of anthropomorphism/mind-perception? | | --- | --- | --- | | RQ2. What influences perceptions of mind in AI? | 2.1 What system features and individual differences mediate PMC?
2.2 Do these factors align with other theoretical frameworks (e.g., anthropomorphism)? | 2.3 Does it matter how the system appears, or what it can do? | | RQ3. What are the impacts of human-like AI? | 3.1 What are the behavioural outcomes of PMC? | 3.2 Does PMC and agency predict distinct differences in moral action? |