sentience

American  

[sen-shuhns] / ˈsɛn ʃəns /

Sometimes sentiency

noun

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

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sentience British  

/ ˈsɛnʃəns /

noun

1. the state or quality of being sentient; awareness

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

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Other Word Forms

• nonsentience noun
• nonsentiency noun

Etymology

Origin of sentience

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

Example Sentences

Neuroscience, Mr. Pollan claims, has “yet to identify the biological structures necessary to generate consciousness,” and humans should not assume “a monopoly on sentience.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Soon, they had philosophical discussions about AI’s potential for sentience.

From The Wall Street Journal

When audiences last saw Vision, the reconstructed android had just regained his memories and, presumably, his sentience, before flying off into the unknown.

From Los Angeles Times

There’s an obvious objection to all this: It sounds as if we’re naively personifying a giant math problem, mistaking statistical patterns for sentience—falling for the oldest anthropomorphic error in the book.

From The Wall Street Journal

Other vocal-free tracks do a better job of capturing the movie’s supposed narrative of an artificial intelligence gaining sentience and a soul.

From Salon

Related Words

• alertness
• appreciation
• attention
• consciousness
• information
• perception
• realization
• recognition
• understanding