AI BriefingSeth, Block, and Tononi Argue AI Systems Are Not Conscious in Nature Comment
·2026.10.22 02:25
Key point
Three prominent researchers argue that current AI architectures lack the biological and theoretical prerequisites for consciousness.
Details
- Anil Seth, Ned Block, and Giulio Tononi published a Nature comment on 19 October arguing that today's AI systems are not conscious and current approaches are unlikely to make them so.
- The authors assert that intelligence does not equal consciousness, citing the human cerebellum, which holds nearly four-fifths of the brain's neurons and performs intelligent motor computations outside conscious awareness.
- They reject computational functionalism, stating that brains are not computers made of meat, and argue that leading theories like integrated information theory require tightly interconnected components lacking in layered, feed-forward deep-learning architectures.
- The authors characterize LLMs as mirrors reflecting a digitized past and warn that allocating resources to AI welfare may divert attention from beings with established capacity to suffer.
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