The Illusion Engine: The Quest for Machine Consciousness

By examining the capabilities and limitations of AI systems – including the phenomenon of AI hallucinations – it interrogates whether machines can truly ‘understand’ or if their intelligence is ultimately an illusion.

This textbook opens with a simple question: what does it mean for a machine to think? Bridging philosophy, cognitive science, cybernetics, and machine learning, it connects contemporary advancements in artificial intelligence with foundational debates about mind, perception, and truth. By examining the capabilities and limitations of AI systems – including the phenomenon of AI hallucinations – it interrogates whether machines can truly ‘understand’ or if their intelligence is ultimately an illusion. This interdisciplinary textbook offers a timely exploration of the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems, shedding light on how AI challenges and reframes our understanding of cognition, knowledge, and the nature of intelligence itself and contains helpful key concept lists and summaries making it of great use to graduate students and professionals.