NYT essay: AI consciousness is 'definitely possible' — we don't even understand consciousness
coherence · x · 2026-11-02
The New York Times runs a guest essay by Toni Sims, a researcher at NYU's Center for Mind, Ethics and Policy, on whether AI could be conscious. Opening with an anecdote about an engineer who scoffed at her research, she argues that while nobody — not even LLM designers — fully knows how LLMs work, nobody can credibly claim to understand consciousness either; scientists and philosophers still disagree on what it fundamentally is, with some theories holding it's uniquely biological. Her core point: skeptics may have an inflated sense of what consciousness requires, and AI consciousness is definitely possible, raising serious moral questions.
Related event: NYT Essay Argues AI Consciousness Is Possible and Worth Serious Study(2 posts)→
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