The problem with AI consciousness: A neurogenetic case against synthetic sentience

TL;DR

This paper argues that AI cannot achieve consciousness because true sentience requires biological neural structures, which artificial systems lack, challenging the notion of synthetic sentience and its social implications.

Contribution

It introduces a neurogenetic structuralist perspective to critically assess the plausibility of conscious AI, emphasizing biological prerequisites for true consciousness.

Findings

Biological neural structures are necessary for consciousness.

Artificial neural networks lack the complex organization of biological brains.

Sentience in AI is unlikely without biological neural features.

Abstract

Ever since the creation of the first artificial intelligence (AI) machinery built on machine learning (ML), public society has entertained the idea that eventually computers could become sentient and develop a consciousness of their own. As these models now get increasingly better and convincingly more anthropomorphic, even some engineers have started to believe that AI might become conscious, which would result in serious social consequences. The present paper argues against the plausibility of sentient AI primarily based on the theory of neurogenetic structuralism, which claims that the physiology of biological neurons and their structural organization into complex brains are necessary prerequisites for true consciousness to emerge.