What if AI is already conscious? Sentience explained | LSE Research

Could artificial intelligence already be conscious? Are today’s AI systems truly aware — or are we just projecting human qualities onto machines?

We speak to Professor Jonathan Birch to explore the science and ethics of AI sentience. As machine learning systems like ChatGPT become more advanced, questions about consciousness in AI are becoming impossible to ignore. From unexplained emergent behaviours to the possibility of strange new forms of awareness, could we be facing a moral blind spot?

Jonathan Birch is a Professor of Philosophy at LSE: https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpnss/people/jo...

Check out his recent book on this research: https://www.edgeofsentience.com/

New videos every month on AI, technology and their impact on society 👉   • AI, Technology and Society 2025  

Read more here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/AI

00:00 What are emergent behaviours in AI?
00:30 Why chatbots are an illusion: AI playing characters
01:19 Could AI be conscious? Exploring machine sentience
01:37 Consciousness and computation: what makes us feel?
02:25 The troubled history of misjudging sentience in humans and animals
03:34 The mystery of consciousness — in humans and artificial intelligence

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