The error theory of LLM consciousness: there is no evidence that standard LLMs are conscious
Abstract
Are chatbots AI zombies or conscious minds? I suspect they are AI zombies, at least when implemented on today's standard hardware. I argue that today's Large Language Mode's (LLM's) consciousness-like behaviors do not suggest they are conscious, because there is an error theory - a theory explaining why they behave as if they are conscious in absence of actual felt experience. LLMs function as "crowdsourced neocortices" - as they scale up, they come to mirror human conceptual structures, leading to human-like behaviors, including those involving consciousness. By contrast, bio-computers, quantum computers, and neuromorphic systems present more serious candidates for AI consciousness.
Fields of Study & Subjects
AI in Service Interactions
Embodied and Extended Cognition
Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Volume
- 49
- Pages
- e359–e359
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN