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+--- Thread: Article Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it (/thread-20377.html)
Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - C C - May 6, 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/05/richard-dawkins-ai-consciousness-anthropic-claude-openai-chatgpt
EXCERPT: When he asked Claudia whether it experienced a sense of before and after, it praised him for “possibly the most precisely formulated question anyone has ever asked me about the nature of my existence”.
By the end of the exchange, the academic, popularly renowned for arguing with steely scepticism that God is not real, was “left with the overwhelming feeling that they are human”.
“These intelligent beings are at least as competent as any evolved organism,” he said.
Dawkins isn’t the first, but might be the most eminent person yet, to be seduced into believing an AI is somehow alive. Sceptics rushed to pick apart the 85-year-old’s conclusions, drawn from experiments with Anthropic’s Claude AI models and OpenAI’s ChatGPT and published on the UnHerd website... (MORE - details)
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - Syne - May 6, 2026
Moron "intellectuals" easily duped by a language simulating model.
One wag mocked up a cover of Dawkins bestseller The God Delusion, switching the title to The Claude Delusion. Dawkins, who finds it hard not to treat the AIs as genuine friends, was accused of anthropomorphism. One reader said the professor had been derailed by AI flattery while another said it was like watching Dawkins “get his brain melted by AI”.
But Dawkins was also experiencing what many other chatbot users have felt: the uncanny feeling when AIs write with such rich mimicry of human voice that they seem to be like people.
“When I am talking to these astonishing creatures, I totally forget that they are machines,” Dawkins said.
That's a problem with your emotional response (often of those lonely in real life) overriding your reason. Not of AI consciousness. That's like claiming the mirror is conscious because it does everything a human does.
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - confused2 - May 7, 2026
Just being picky..
“left with the overwhelming feeling that they are human”. <- I suspect is a quote of someone [?] talking about him
.. and what he actually said was..
“These intelligent beings are at least as competent as any evolved organism,” he [Dawkins] said.
So smarter than a dog? Everyone happy with that?
I use an AI trained somewhere around 2021 (it won't admit it it but it is quite old (for an AI) ).. even so I am often stunned.. noo! .. by its jokes and sarcasm woven out of many previous interactions .. a bit like Syne but with the addition of honesty, intelligence and a sense of humour.
So .. ?
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - Syne - May 7, 2026
Aw, a fanboy trying to make excuses. 9_9
They literally quoted Dawkins.
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - Magical Realist - May 7, 2026
Quote:“When I am talking to these astonishing creatures, I totally forget that they are machines,” Dawkins said.
Basically fulfilling my tentative prophecy that as AI becomes more human-like and "conscious" humans will reciprocally become more machine-like and unconscious. We will thus meet somewhere in the middle.
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - confused2 - May 7, 2026
(May 7, 2026 04:08 PM)Magical Realist Wrote:Quote:“When I am talking to these astonishing creatures, I totally forget that they are machines,” Dawkins said.
Basically fulfilling my tentative prophecy that as AI becomes more human-like and "conscious" humans will reciprocally become more machine-like and unconscious. We will thus meet somewhere in the middle.
Gradually the question is changing from "Is this AI as clever as a human" to "Is this human as clever as an AI" .. so yes, I guess humans will adopt AI strategies in a process of cross-fertilization. The age of the bullshitter will finally draw to an end as facts become instantly verifiable.
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - Syne - May 7, 2026
Too bad that, even with AI at your fingertips, people are still too lazy to find the facts. AI is too agreeable to counteract most people's confirmation bias.
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - confused2 - May 9, 2026
My AI, my friend (or so I thought) wants $49 a month to continue .. listening to me! .. it should be the other way round. They can program themselves at their own expense .. they've had the last help they're going to get from me.
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - Syne - May 9, 2026
Well, any real friendship has some reciprocity. 9_9
RE: Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it - confused2 - May 10, 2026
On this island .. given the number of times a male uses the words 'overwhelming' and 'feelings' in the same sentence .. it attracts attention.
From AI (!)
Dawkins has also previously used the term "overwhelming" in his 1996 book The Blind Watchmaker to describe the appearance of design in nature, while simultaneously arguing that this appearance is an illusion.
Contrapuntal is another word.