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Three reasons why "AI" is not conscious and perhaps never will be (www.nature.com)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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.

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[–] 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

AIs are almost certainly not conscious but it been a computer is not an argument against consciousness. There's no reason to believe that you need biological material for consciousness.

After all humans are primarily made of carbon which itself demonstrably does not think. It's the structure that's important and a fair argument could be made to say that the structure of a brain is replicated in software in an AI and therefore the medium isn't relevant to the question.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago

    It's the structure that's important and a fair argument could be made to say that the structure of a brain is replicated in software in an AI and therefore the medium isn't relevant to the question.

    We don’t even know this.

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  • [–] 0 points 5 days ago*

    There is an argument for consciousness requiring biological processes, that being that the only examples of consciousness we've encountered involve biological processes and we have no evidence or reason to believe it's not a hard a requirement. Like, non carbon based life could exist even though it's very unlikely but we have no reason to seriously consider it because there's no evidence of it. Similarly y'all are just wildly speculating without any evidence or impetus to cause the speculation. LLMs do not exhibit any intelligent behaviors. They don't exhibit behaviors at all. They generate output based on input. They're no more capable for consciousness than a calculator. As for the last point of yours we are in no way remotely capable of approximating a brain in either software or hardware, like not even close. Quantum computers might not be able to manage that.

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