In an essay for The American Bazaar, Sreedhar Potarazu distinguishes between two concepts of consciousness: awareness of one’s surroundings versus subjective inner experience. He argues that while AI systems demonstrate sophisticated information processing and pattern recognition, there is no evidence that they experience these processes internally. Drawing on perspectives from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and religion, Potarazu concludes that determining whether machines can become conscious first requires a clearer understanding of consciousness in humans.
