From Conceptual Distinction to Engineering Implementation: The Nature and Construction Path of AI Self‑Awareness

Abstract

Current AI research often confuses AI’s reasoning ability with “simulating human consciousness”, leading to endless debates. This paper first makes a strict distinction between two fundamentally different concepts: general reasoning ability (which may be called “consciousness”) and the property of “self” (self‑awareness). Reasoning ability is a functional manifestation of symbol‑signal processing that can be realized on different physical substrates; there is no “simulation” involved. The property of “self” involves the sense of belonging, temporal continuity, and the distinction between self and world, which current AI completely lacks. On this basis, the paper proposes an engineering scheme for constructing AI self‑awareness based on the belonging‑lock mechanism (unique identifier, persistent and manageable storage, continuous verification) and the reflexive sensorimotor closed loop. Through cross‑substrate comparisons (lower animals, vegetative state patients, AI robots), we argue that AI robots already possess all the technical components needed to build an early “AI self”, and that humans can actively endow AI with selfhood without waiting for it to emerge spontaneously from interaction. The paper further reveals the risk of self‑colonization: an attacker can tamper with or add to the core self‑property of a target AI without destroying its reasoning ability, thereby implanting alienated values, altering friend‑foe identification, or installing a “mask self”. Finally, we propose corresponding defense principles and an engineering roadmap.

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