01/06/2023

‘Consciousness’ in Robots Was Once Taboo

Now it is the last word

Dr. Hod Lipson, a mechanical engineer who directs the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, has shaped most of his career around what some people in his industry have called the "c-word."

On a sunny morning this past October, the Israeli-born roboticist sat behind a table in his lab and explained himself.

“This topic was taboo,” he said, a grin exposing a slight gap between his front teeth. “We were almost forbidden from talking about it — ‘Don’t talk about the c-word; you won’t get tenure’ — so in the beginning I had to disguise it, like it was something else.”

Please select this link to read the complete article from The New York Times.