Can AI systems perceive?

• Applicant: Dr. Daniel Mario Weger
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 569128824

Despite the growing philosophical interest in artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years, the question of whether AI systems can perceive has received surprisingly little attention. Yet answering this question is crucial not only for a better understanding of AI systems and the concept of perception, but also because it has significant implications for ethical, epistemological, and action-theoretic debates in the philosophy of AI. This research project aims to fill this gap in the philosophical literature by providing a detailed and nuanced answer to the question of whether AI systems can perceive. To address this question, the project first establishes a comprehensive account of perception. A key distinction here is that between a thin notion of perception, which encompasses only functional aspects (such as information processing and sensory discriminatory abilities), and a thick notion of perception, which also includes phenomenal and epistemic aspects (such as subjective experience and the justification of beliefs). The foundation for this is an interdisciplinary approach that integrates insights from philosophy and empirical sciences, including neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology. In the next step, the project elaborates on what AI systems are and develops a perception-focused typology of AI systems. Based on this, the project then offers a detailed assessment of which AI systems, if any, can be considered perceivers – and in which senses and to what extent. Beyond clarifying the concept of perception and assessing AI systems in this regard, the project explores the broader philosophical implications of its findings. Since perception is a paradigmatic form of conscious experience and plays a central role in acquiring knowledge about and actively engaging with the environment, determining whether AI systems can perceive raises pressing questions about the moral and epistemic status of such systems and their agency. Overall, this project contributes to ongoing debates in the philosophy of mind and AI, while also providing a refined conceptual foundation for future research on AI perception.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Dr. Heather Logue