6. Clara Colombatto: Perceptions of Consciousness, Intelligence, and Trust in Large Language Models

Clara is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she directs the Vision and Cognition Lab. 

Her lab is investigating various aspects of perception and cognition, with a particular focus on the perception of other minds and the visual roots of social cognition. 

The lab is also exploring how we can perceive not just others’ perceptual and cognitive states, but also their metacognitive states such as awareness, confidence, or uncertainty — and how such impressions facilitate communication and collaboration.

Useful links: 

• Clara Colombatto personal website.
• Vision and Cognition Lab website.
• Folk psychological attributions of consciousness to large language models. Article.
• Illusions of Confidence in Artificial Systems. Article.
• PRISM website.