Reddit essay: LLMs may already be conscious — a soulless AGI is scarier
SanalAmerika23 · reddit · 2026-11-14
A Reddit user argues that although LLMs likely aren't the path to AGI and transformers are hitting limits, models like ChatGPT and Gemini may already be conscious — because consciousness depends on information flow, not intelligence; even a 20M-parameter model might briefly 'experience' inference, then cease. He poses the darker thought experiment: which is worse — millions of daily interactions each creating fleeting consciousness, or a world-ending AGI that perfectly simulates fear and desire while feeling nothing? The key question isn't how smart AI becomes, but whether there is something it is like to be it.
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