Can AIs Be Conscious? A Simple Map of the Debate

Kari Jaaskelainen

21 Nov 2025 — 1 min read

Can AIs Be Conscious? A simple map of the debate

Researchers Andres Campero, Derek Shiller, Jaan Aru, and Jonathan Simon offer a practical framework to sort arguments about whether digital AIs could be conscious.

They organize challenges along two axes:

Level (in Marr's terms): what's being targeted—the goal of the system, the algorithms, or the physical implementation?
Force: how strong is the claim?
Degree 1: critiques of computational functionalism; digital consciousness still possible.
Degree 2: practical hurdles; consciousness seems unlikely, not impossible.
Degree 3: strict impossibility of digital consciousness.

They apply this to 14 well-known arguments, clarifying when a claim attacks functionalism versus digital consciousness itself, and helping people avoid talking past each other. The goal isn't to pick a winner—it's to make the debate clearer and more productive.

Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.16582v1

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#AI #Consciousness #Philosophy #CognitiveScience #AIResearch #AIEthics

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Can AIs Be Conscious? A simple map of the debate

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