AI Sessions #9: The Case Against AI Consciousness (with Anil Seth)

We are joined by Anil Seth for a deep dive into the science, philosophy, and ethics surrounding the topic of AI and consciousness. Anil outlines and defends his view that the brain is not a computer, or at least not a digital computer, and explains why he is sceptical that merely making AI systems smarter or more capable will produce consciousness.

Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and professor at the University of Sussex, where he directs the Centre for Consciousness Science. His research spans many topics, including the neuroscience and philosophy of consciousness, perception, and selfhood, with a focus on understanding how our brains construct our conscious experiences. His bestselling book Being You: A New Science of Consciousness was published in 2021. He is the English-language winner of the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition for his essay “The Mythology of Conscious AI”, which develops ideas in his recent article, “Conscious Artificial Intelligence and Biological Naturalism.”

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Topics

* What we mean by “consciousness” (subjective experience / “what it’s like”) vs intelligence.

* Whether general anaesthesia and dreamless sleep are true “no consciousness” baselines.

* Psychological biases pushing us to ascribe consciousness to AI

* How impressive current AI/LLMs really are, and whether “stochastic parrots” is too dismissive

* Whether LLMs “understand”, and the role of embodiment/grounding in genuine understanding

* Computational functionalism: consciousness as computation + substrate-independence, and alternative functionalist flavours

* Main objections to computational functionalism

* Whether the brain is a computer