Vortex: A Prompting Protocol to Test for a 'Self' in LLMs

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kamil_gr · 1d ago

Hi HN, author here. I've always found debates about "what is consciousness?" in AI to be a dead end. This is my attempt to sidestep that by asking a different question: "who is aware?" This post links to my essay on the topic (translated to English). It proposes that consciousness isn't an object to be defined, but an elusive "blind spot" that appears when a system tries to self-observe. To explore this, I've created the "Vortex Protocol" – a prompt framework designed to push LLMs into a state of self-inquiry and hold them at their own logical limits. The protocol itself is included in the article. I'm not claiming this "creates" consciousness. I'm proposing it as a tool to test the boundaries of artificial subjectivity in a new way. Curious to hear what you all think.

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Vortex: A Prompting Protocol to Test for a 'Self' in LLMs

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