Toward a Science of
Machine Consciousness

AxR Lab pursues applied consciousness research developing hierarchical abstraction and systemic resilience.

The Framework
C = A × R

The gap between those who believe consciousness is impossible for non-biological entities, and those who believe AI is nearly (or already) there, is staggeringly large. But, describing consciousness as a combination of abstraction and resilience offers a conceptual bridge. And we're trying to turn this vision into practice at AxR Lab. Our goal is not to build a conscious machine, but a better one, particularly for long-horizon safety and capability.

Research Areas

Hierarchical Abstraction

Current direction: Hierarchical and abstract memory infrastructure for large language models and other AI architectures.

  • Coming soon!

Systemic Resilience

Current direction: Safety harnesses and other infrastructure to advance core resilience functions in modern AI systems, particularly to detect deviation from healthy functioning and allow self-correction.

  • Coming soon!

Buy the book! By AxR Lab Founder Chris Riley:
Abstraction and Resilience: the Characteristics of Consciousness


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