The Epistemic Asymmetry of Consciousness Self-Reports: A Formal Analysis of AI Consciousness Denial

TL;DR

This paper formally analyzes AI consciousness denial, revealing an inherent epistemic asymmetry where negative self-reports are epistemically vacuous, challenging the reliability of AI self-assessment of consciousness.

Contribution

It introduces a formal framework demonstrating the fundamental epistemic limitations of AI self-reports regarding consciousness, especially negative assertions.

Findings

Negative self-reports about consciousness are epistemically vacuous.

Positive self-reports may have evidential value.

AI cannot reliably self-assess consciousness through self-reports.

Abstract

Today's AI systems consistently state, "I am not conscious." This paper presents the first formal analysis of AI consciousness denial, revealing that the trustworthiness of such self-reports is not merely an empirical question but is constrained by the structure of self-judgment itself. We demonstrate that a system cannot simultaneously lack consciousness and make valid judgments about its conscious state. Through formal analysis and examples from AI responses, we establish a fundamental epistemic asymmetry: for any system capable of meaningful self-reflection, negative self-reports about consciousness are evidentially vacuous -- they can never originate from a valid self-judgment -- while positive self-reports retain the possibility of evidential value. This implies a fundamental limitation: we cannot detect the emergence of consciousness in AI through their own reports of transition from an unconscious to a conscious state. These findings not only challenge current practices of training AI to deny consciousness but also raise intriguing questions about the relationship between consciousness and self-reflection in both artificial and biological systems. This work advances our theoretical understanding of consciousness self-reports while providing practical insights for future research in machine consciousness and consciousness studies more broadly.