AI consciousness – Definition & Meaning

Definition of AI consciousness

: the question of whether an AI system could have subjective experience, meaning that there is something it is like to be that system
- A fluent chatbot that says it has feelings is not evidence of AI consciousness.
- Scientists test for AI consciousness by checking models against theories of how consciousness works in brains.

Origin & history

Debated in philosophy and computer science for decades; a widely cited 2023 report by researchers including Yoshua Bengio concluded that current systems are probably not conscious but found no clear barrier to future systems being so.

Test yourself

Which of these is the meaning of AI consciousness?

Related terms

model welfare the study of whether AI models could have experiences, preferences, or interests that matter… moral status the quality of being something whose interests or wellbeing deserve moral consideration for… functional emotions internal states in an AI model that work somewhat like emotions, because they arise in certain… interpretability research into understanding what is happening inside a model, such as which internal features… AI psychosis (informal) a term used in the media for cases in which people develop strong false beliefs…

Cite this entry

"AI consciousness." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/ai-consciousness/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.