AI and Consciousness: Why Behavior Does Not Mean Thought
Richard Dawkins recently suggested that AI may be conscious. Philosopher Dr Simon Nieder disagrees: when a system answers fluently and with humor, that does not mean it has an inner life. We see in machines what we want to see.
AI-processed from Guardian; edited by Hamidun News
AI can seem intelligent and conscious, but Richard Dawkins and Dr Simon Nieder recently argued the point in The Guardian. When a system answers fluently and with humor, Nieder says, it is a classic category error: a convincing imitation is mistaken for the real thing.
Why does AI seem conscious when it is not?
When AI responds with fluency, humor and an apparent grasp of the subject, it creates an illusion of presence. People project their own expectations onto machines, and that shift in perception tells us not about the machines but about ourselves.
Test Frontier LLMs & Autonomous Agents in One Workspace
Run Claude Opus 5.5, GPT-6, Gemini 3.1, and DeepSeek side-by-side in Nomad AI (nomadnet.ai) — unified model routing, deep research, and multimodal workflows under one subscription.
The AI world, distilled — once a week
Seven stories that actually mattered, hand-picked. No noise, no reposts, no press releases.
Done! Check your inbox for a confirmation.