Scientist: AI Can't Be Conscious Without Evolutionary Pressure

Researcher Jeff Stibel argues in a Frontiers in Neuroscience paper that consciousness is not a byproduct of intelligence but a mechanism for resolving internal conflicts across a whole organism. AI, whose needs are met by humans and which cannot set its own goals, has no reason to evolve it.

• Stibel defines consciousness as 'settlement control' resolving conflicts across the whole organism
• Cognition and consciousness evolved independently under different evolutionary pressures
• LLMs like Gemini and ChatGPT set no goals of their own and have no stake in outcomes
• Consciousness is possible for AI, but only for agents that must maintain themselves