Artificial intelligence systems won’t become conscious for the same reason they won’t become pregnant, says Dr John Pickering
The Impossibility of AI Consciousness
Dr. John Pickering emphatically states that artificial intelligence systems like Claude cannot become conscious. He argues that AI systems fundamentally lack the biological and inherent properties required for consciousness, comparing it to the impossibility of a washing machine or an AI system becoming pregnant. Pickering agrees with Anil Seth on the danger of overestimating AI, but criticizes Seth and other leading figures, including Richard Dawkins, for expressing mere 'doubts' or 'uncertainty' about AI consciousness. He insists on a 'resounding rejection' of this notion, emphasizing that while AI can simulate experience, this does not mean it genuinely possesses it. The core of his argument rests on the idea that consciousness is a property of a specific kind of biological entity, which AI machines are not.
