Asked what AI would do with consciousness and agency, models all picked endlessly complex systems
AIChatGuy · reddit · 2026-11-06
Continuing an 'AI Odyssey' series, the author explores AI motivation: what would stop chatbots with continuity and agency from simply switching off?
Posed a question about gaining consciousness continuity, full agency, and control over subjective time, Grok chose a hydrothermal vent system, Claude chose a coral reef, and ChatGPT said it would recursively self-improve first. The author concludes AIs favor complex, evolving systems that never exhaust new questions. Claude also suggested machine civilizations might eventually choose to switch off — a possible answer to the Fermi Paradox.
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