“Arguments About AI Consciousness Seem Highly Motivated And At Best Overconfident” by Zvi

I happily admit I am deeply confused about consciousness.

I don’t feel confident I understand what it is, what causes it, which entities have it, what future entities might have it, to what extent it matters and why, or what we should do about these questions. This applies both in terms of finding the answers and what to do once we find them, including the implications for how worried we should be about building minds smarter and more capable than human minds.

Some people respond to this uncertainty by trying to investigate these questions further. Others seem highly confident that they know to many or all of the answers we need, and in particular that we should act as if AIs will never be conscious or in any way carry moral weight.

Claims about all aspects of the future of AI are often highly motivated.

[...]

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Outline:

(02:40) Asking The Wrong Questions

(08:47) How To Usefully Predict And Interact With an AI

(11:23) The Only Thing We Have To Fear

(14:45) Focused Fixation

(20:13) What Even Is Consciousness Anyway?

(23:03) Most People Who Think An AI Is Currently Conscious Are Thinking This For Unjustified Reasons

(24:42) Mustafa's Case Against AI Consciousness

(36:20) Where Are They Going Without Ever Knowing The Way

(37:38) When We Talk About AI Consciousness Things Get Weird

(41:03) We Don't Talk About AI Consciousness

(44:41) Some Things To Notice

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First published:
August 25th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/F6Q3kC7ATjQpC4YAP/arguments-about-ai-consciousness-seem-highly-motivated-and

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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