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Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism

Anil K. Seth

Behavioral and Brain Sciences2025https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x25000032article
AJG 4
Weight
0.67

What the paper says

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, it is natural to ask whether AI systems can be not only intelligent, but also conscious. I consider why people might think AI could develop consciousness, identifying some biases that lead us astray. I ask what it would take for conscious AI to be a realistic prospect, challenging the assumption that computation provides a sufficient basis for consciousness. I'll instead make the case that consciousness depends on our nature as living organisms - a form of biological naturalism. I lay out a range of scenarios for conscious AI, concluding that real artificial consciousness is unlikely along current trajectories, but becomes more plausible as AI becomes more brain-like and/or life-like. I finish by exploring ethical considerations arising from AI that either is, or convincingly appears to be, conscious. If we sell our minds too cheaply to our machine creations, we not only overestimate them - we underestimate ourselves.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x25000032

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@article{anil2025,
  title        = {{Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism}},
  author       = {Anil K. Seth},
  journal      = {Behavioral and Brain Sciences},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x25000032},
}

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Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism

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Evidence weight

0.67

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.74 × 0.4 = 0.30
M · momentum1.00 × 0.15 = 0.15
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.