Article: No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious

Essay

I like these kinds of essays where people ruminate over what AI is and what it is not. Even though I don't agree with the writer that AI is definitely not conscious.

I believe we don't have the right words to talk about AI. In a way, components of what a Large Language Model produces is very similar to what we produce. Combining words into a sentence, showing understanding of large amounts of text, it gives you a sense of being conscious.

The problem is, we don't know what it is, and thus the debate is endless.

Philosophy professor Eric Schwitzgebel summarizes it nicely:

"I contend the following: Anyone who claims to know how best to think about Herbie's consciousness or its absence is overconfident. The science of consciousness is too difficult, too methodologically uncertain, and too near its beginnings. All anyone can have -- whether expert or layperson -- is a hunch or inclination, a well-informed guess, but only a guess, not knowledge." From