Artificial-intelligence systems such as large language models (LLMs) can exhibit behaviour that seems strikingly intelligent. This has led many people, including some experts, to wonder whether these systems could have some form of consciousness — the capacity for subjective experience. However, we think that existing AI systems are not conscious, and that, along current trajectories of development, they are not likely to become conscious. Greater clarity about whether AI could become consciousness will be crucial as society grapples with the challenges posed by this increasingly powerful technology.
If we wanted to compare LLMs to actual intelligence, we might say it’s like the voice in your head. It doesn’t solve math problems, or express emotions as art, or plan your motion to climb a ladder; it merely surfaces these things in a way that is observable across your conscious mind and communicable to others.
Some people don’t know that their consciousness is more complicated than a linear thread of words, so the idea that some other linear thread of words might be conscious is sincerely plausible to them.
Ok, in what way does this prove the existence or nonexistence of the non-linear-thread-of-words consciousness in any entity?
I don’t think it proves anything, and I don’t think it even set out to prove anything. I think it is trying to establish bounds on the problem by distinguishing between intelligence and consciousness.
But if you’re specifically interrogating my comment, the answer is pretty simple: an LLM mimics intelligence, but not consciousness; a fruit fly is conscious but not intelligent, and achieves this without an inner monologue.
I think you’ve done a good job of making a distinction between consciousness and… I’m not really sure what to call the other thing, but I’ll use “intelligence” to match your language. But you are pretty clearly implying a claim that LLMs do not possess consciousness by saying:
As if it were not possible (correct me if I’m wrong about your intention).
I think some natural next questions to ask are:
TL;DR: I think your distinction between intelligence and consciousness is useful, but I don’t think you can confidently use that distinction to make any claims about who or what is or is not conscious, or even necessarily about how consciousness and intelligence are related.*
* You can actually make one claim: Your consciousness is aware of/affected by your intelligence (you, the consciousness I am speaking to, know you are intelligent), and your intelligence is aware of/affected by your consciousness (your thoughts reflect that you have a conscious experience).