The ghost in the AI machine

The question of machine consciousness is suddenly everywhere, driven by models that are getting better at doing things that look an awful lot like thinking

Cris Faga / NurPhoto via Getty Images

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We do not know what consciousness is. After centuries of philosophy and decades of neuroscience, there is no agreed-upon definition, no reliable test, and no consensus on how subjective experience arises from biological tissue. This is not a gap at the margins of science. It is a gaping hole at the center of it.

None of that has slowed the race to declare that AI might have it.

The question of machine consciousness is suddenly everywhere, driven by models that are getting better at doing things that look an awful lot like thinking. Michael Pollan has a new book about it. A major new review in Frontiers in Science warns that consciousness research is falling dangerously behind the technology it needs to evaluate.

And earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that his company does not know whether its models are conscious. He added that the latest one, when asked, assigns itself roughly a 15% to 20% probability of being........

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