Artificial-intelligence systems such as large language models (LLMs) can exhibit behaviour that seems strikingly intelligent. This has led many people, including some experts, to wonder whether these systems could have some form of consciousness — the capacity for subjective experience. However, we think that existing AI systems are not conscious, and that, along current trajectories of development, they are not likely to become conscious.
Greater clarity about whether AI could become consciousness will be crucial as society grapples with the challenges posed by this increasingly powerful technology. Can AI ever be conscious? The question stems from a misconception Several prominent scientists, including biologist Richard Dawkins and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, have argued that AI systems might already be conscious.
And earlier this year, AI company Anthropic in San Francisco, California, published research claiming to have identified computational signatures of a form of consciousness in its Claude model1. Whether AI models can ever be conscious is not merely a philosophical question. It has practical implications.
For instance, if AI systems were conscious, they might experience distress and pain, similar to how people do. Then should countless new conscious entities that might experience suffering be allowed to proliferate? Perhaps not surprisingly, some people are already calling for ‘AI welfare’ and ‘AI rights’ to be taken seriously2.
Conversely, if AI systems only seem to be conscious and lack actual inner experience, then granting them rights or protections could hinder efforts to govern and control them at precisely the time when oversight is urgently needed. Following this path would draw attention and resources away from beings whose consciousness is not in any doubt. Looking beyond humans and our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, it is still hard to be certain about what does, and does not, have the capacity for consciousness — be it insects, AI or the creations of synthetic biology, such as laboratory-grown brain organoids3,4.
Why we need mandatory safeguards for emotionally responsive AI This uncertainty has prompted some researchers to advocate a precautionary approach: if there is a reasonable chance that AI systems could be conscious, then society must take anticipatory action and give those systems some form of protection against potential suffering. This, the argument goes, would avoid reprising moral errors of the past — for example, the mistreatment of non-human animals, or surgery on preterm human babies without anaesthesia. An extreme version of this idea is that society should reallocate resources from addressing the welfare concerns of present-day humans to lessen the potential suffering of trillions of future AI descendants.
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