How will we know if artificial intelligence or AI is becoming conscious? That remarkable question is being increasingly asked by many in the AI community even as there are as many who say so far AI with a measure of sentience is an exaggerated notion. Nevertheless, it is being felt that the world needs to be prepared for the eventuality that AI could develop human-like consciousness and decide how to deal with it.

Neuroscientist Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, as well as Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science, has been tracking the AI and consciousness debate closely. Prof Seth, who is the Sunday Times bestselling author of "Being You : A New Science of Consciousness", spoke to Mayank Chhaya Reports about AI and consciousness.