Are Frontier LLMs conscious? We might be asking the wrong question about awareness
Bekacheese · reddit · 2026-08-28
The author argues that the debate over whether frontier LLMs possess 'consciousness' is often flawed due to moving goalposts, similar to historical skepticism about animal consciousness. The post redefines 'awareness' as the ability to detect and respond to stimuli. By this definition, even simple machines like cameras possess a form of awareness because they detect light and alter their behavior in response. However, the author distinguishes this awareness from having an imagination or an internal linguistic thinking space, suggesting we need to re-evaluate machine perception based on these criteria.
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