# Artificial Consciousness as Interface Representation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.04383 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.04383/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 36 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Aug 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [OpenAI Gym](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.01540/) (2016)
- [Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere (TAME): an experimentally-grounded framework for understanding diverse bodies and minds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.10346/) (2021)
- [Integrated information theory (IIT) 4.0: Formulating the properties of phenomenal existence in physical terms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.14787/) (2022)
- [Emergent Causality and the Foundation of Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03189/) (2023)
- [Computational Dualism and Objective Superintelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00843/) (2023)
- [Classical Sorting Algorithms as a Model of Morphogenesis: self-sorting arrays reveal unexpected competencies in a minimal model of basal intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.05375/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Categorical AI phenomenology: A first-person approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.20420/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Whether artificial intelligence (AI) systems can possess consciousness is a contentious question because of the inherent challenges of defining and operationalizing subjective experience. This paper proposes a framework to reframe the question of artificial consciousness into empirically tractable tests. We introduce three evaluative criteria - S (subjective-linguistic), L (latent-emergent), and P (phenomenological-structural) - collectively termed SLP-tests, which assess whether an AI system instantiates interface representations that facilitate consciousness-like properties. Drawing on category theory, we model interface representations as mappings between relational substrates (RS) and observable behaviors, akin to specific types of abstraction layers. The SLP-tests collectively operationalize subjective experience not as an intrinsic property of physical systems but as a functional interface to a relational entity.