AI and consciousness: Why philosophers say the next leap may redefine the mind

AI and consciousness: Why philosophers say the next leap may redefine the mind

Public perception is growing that artificial intelligence is already smarter than people, and philosophers say this shift matters just as much as the technology itself does. As AI systems reply in ways that seem to mirror human reasoning, the long-running question of whether machines can think has evolved into a more pressing one: whether they may eventually be considered conscious, the New York Times reported.

Why intelligence was the wrong starting point

In 1950, Alan Turing countered that defining intelligence was too vague to be useful and suggested another test: if a machine's responses are indistinguishable from a human's, then for practical purposes, it should be considered intelligent. This view held that rather than build theories first, we learn what intelligence is through our experience with machines and refine our notion of it as systems become more capable.

How concepts change with new technology

Turing predicted that the shift in language would be so natural that one day speaking of machines thinking wouldn't sound controversial at all. Philosophers argue that we are now in the middle of that moment. The History of Science supports this kind of pattern. The atom went from an indivisible particle to a complex quantum model as the evidence came in. These were not semantic tricks but real conceptual advances driven by fresh evidence.

Why consciousness may follow a similar path

Sceptics argue that consciousness must be different in principle, because it relies upon inner subjective experience, which machines can never possess. But philosophers counter that our own sense of inner experience depends upon upbringing, culture and the language we share with others. Much of what we describe as emotional or introspective life is learned, rather than innate. In this important sense, our concept of consciousness may expand rather than break as AI systems become more advanced.

Whether machines can feel

Some theorists insist that it could be conscious only if it reported subjective experiences without having been trained on language about them. Others point out that humans wouldn't meet such a standard either, since our emotional vocabulary is one that we learned. Questions of what sadness feels like, or how we know an inner state exists, are difficult to define in absolute terms. It leaves open the possibility that at some future time digital systems could qualify.

The moral question that follows

One frequent anxiety is that a conscious AI would deserve rights or protections that would constrain how such systems can be used by society. However, philosophers caution that consciousness alone has never been the basis of universal moral concern. Many humans accept the consciousness of non-human animals, yet choose diets, laws and practices that don't extend equal status to them. The debate is not over whether the consciousness exists, but over which kinds of consciousness society values.

How AI may reshape moral boundaries

Just as AI has already compelled a reevaluation of what counts as human intelligence, so might a version of machine consciousness disrupt assumptions rooted in moral status. Rather than elevate artificial minds, it could further codify existing hierarchies by underscoring the notion that not all forms of awareness are created equal. These would be a continuation of the ways in which societies have conventionally sorted different kinds of minds and experiences.

What comes next

The next phase of the debate is no longer whether machines can think but whether thinking machines could count as conscious. As systems become more immersive and autonomous, public intuition is expected to shift once more. The boundary between artificial and biological minds may feel less rigid, and the question may change from whether AI can be conscious to how society chooses to respond if it is.