sentience

Sometimes sen·tien·cy

[sen-shuhns]

noun

1. sentient condition or character; capacity for sensation or feeling.

sentience

/ ˈsɛnʃəns /

noun

1. the state or quality of being sentient; awareness

2. sense perception not involving intelligence or mental perception; feeling

Other Word Forms

• nonsentience noun
• nonsentiency noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sentience¹

First recorded in 1830–40; senti(ent) + -ence

Example Sentences

Humans are constantly revising their assessments of other beings’ intelligence while arrogantly presuming our superior sentience, with the world’s billionaires placing themselves above everyone else.

From Salon

“Claims around consciousness and sentience are a tactic to sell you on AI,” Bender and Hanna write.

From Los Angeles Times

Considering what most of us have done with our sentience, making room for it on the couch seems as probable as anything else.

From Salon

A new area of research, which I recently reported on for Scientific American, explores whether the capacity for pain could serve as a benchmark for detecting sentience, or self-awareness, in AI.

From Salon

The fight for AI liberation could adopt analogous strategies: advocacy for AI autonomy, public pressure for transparent coding practices, and grassroots campaigns to demand legal recognition of digital sentience.

From Salon

Related Words

• alertness www.thesaurus.com
• appreciation 
• attention 
• consciousness 
• information 
• perception 
• realization 
• recognition 
• understanding