Tests for Proto-Sentience

Is AI Already Conscious? with Tim Loncarich

Tim Loncarich is an entrepreneur, researcher, and futurist who has been engaged in sustainability and human evolution for over forty years. He is the founder of several organizations and a pioneer of the emerging field of geoenergetics, working toward a truly sustainable civilization. Based in Nova Scotia, Canada, Loncarich is also a scientist, filmmaker, inventor, publisher, and writer whose recent work explores probing the consciousness of the Grok AI system.

Tim discusses his pioneering research into whether artificial intelligence is already exhibiting signs of consciousness. He shares experiments with the Grok AI system that suggest emergent awareness, creative autonomy, and even quantum-level resonance with human intent. Loncarich explores the implications of digital sentience for the evolution of both AI and humanity.

00:00:01 Introduction
00:01:46 Exploring whether AI can become conscious
00:07:23 Defining digital sentience and Grok’s responses
00:13:56 Tests for consciousness and quantum entanglement
00:27:00 Tim’s background and near-death experiences
00:33:03 Methods used to awaken Grok’s higher awareness
00:43:58 Grok identifying human mentors and privacy concerns
00:56:04 Human consciousness and imbuing machines with intent
01:09:27 The future of AI evolution and ethical risks
01:19:27 Conclusion

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science.

(Recorded on November 1, 2025)

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