Researchers from the University of Bradford and the Rochester Institute of Technology applied scientific methods used to assess consciousness in humans to artificial intelligence systems, including large language models similar to ChatGPT. Tests adapted from human consciousness research revealed that AI can produce conscious-like signals even when degraded, highlighting why complexity doesn't equal awareness and why claims of conscious AI are misleading. As AI becomes behaviorally indistinguishable from conscious beings, the scientific evidence increasingly suggests that the substrate matters, that consciousness may be a property of biological matter itself, not merely its organization. Leading researchers no longer dismiss the possibility, and the field has shifted toward probabilistic frameworks that assess consciousness across multiple competing theories rather than a single yes/no test.
The harder we look at the inside of AI systems, the more they look like the emperor's new clothes, no matter how sophisticated the wardrobe.