🔗 Read the paper here: arxiv.org/html/2605.06...

I’m very grateful to my colleagues, including @mpshanahan.bsky.social , @david-p-reichert.bsky.social , @sebk.bsky.social, for great feedback and thought-provoking discussions on the timely and fascinating topic of AI consciousness! ✨

5/5
Finally, I advocate for transparency. We should acknowledge the field's inherent uncertainties rather than hard-code false epistemic confidence into models when users ask, "Are you conscious?". 🪞

4/5
Because of this discrepancy, I argue we should increase our focus on understanding the causes and effects of perceived AI consciousness. This phenomenon is tractable, timely, and may shape our society, ethics, and language long before science finds definitive answers. 🧭

3/5
Yet, despite the scientific uncertainty, some users appear increasingly open to the possibility of AI consciousness. People routinely use language from the domains of human cognition and subjective experience to talk about current models. 🗣️

2/5
The "ground truth" question of whether artificial entities can genuinely have subjective experience is, I argue, currently scientifically intractable in its direct form. Our best empirical frameworks rely on debated, non-universal assumptions like computational functionalism. 🔒