#152 Why AI Will Never Be Conscious

2026-04-20

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Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at ⁠https://huel.com/alexoconnor ⁠(Minimum $50 purchase).For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.Anil Seth is a British neuroscientist and professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. A proponent of materialist explanations of consciousness, he is currently amongst the most cited scholars on the topics of neurosc...

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at ⁠https://huel.com/alexoconnor ⁠(Minimum $50 purchase).

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Anil Seth is a British neuroscientist and professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. A proponent of materialist explanations of consciousness, he is currently amongst the most cited scholars on the topics of neuroscience and cognitive science globally. Read Anil's essay, ⁠"The Mythology of Conscious AI"⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) The Difference Between Intelligence and Consciousness

(03:55) What’s Stopping the Replication of Consciousness in AI?

(17:01) Can You Separate What the Brain Is From What It Does?

(22:20) Is Conscious Experience Just Predictions From the Brain?

(26:48) Why Do We Project Consciousness Onto LLMs?

(37:27) Can Consciousness Exist Without a Body?

(42:25) Why We Liken the Brain to a Computer

(52:11) Is There An Evolutionary Reason For Consciousness?

(56:29) Studying Unconscious Perception?

(1:01:21) Is Consciousness Unified? Split-Brain Patients

(1:15:10) Attention and Consciousness