Agnosticism about artificial consciousness
Open accessAbstract
Could an AI have conscious experiences? Answers to this question should be based not on intuition, dogma or speculation but on solid scientific evidence. However, I argue such evidence is hard to come by and that the only justifiable stance is agnosticism. The main division in the contemporary literature is between biological views that are sceptical of artificial consciousness and functional views that are sympathetic to it. I show that both camps make the same mistake of overstating what the available evidence tells us. I then consider what agnosticism means for the ethical problems surrounding the creation of artificial consciousness.
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- Authors
- McClelland, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- McClelland, Tom
- ORCID
- McClelland, Tom
- Venue
- Mind & Language
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2025-12-18
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 482-502
- ISSN
- 0268-1064 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-0017
- OpenAlex
- W7115889290
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7
- FWCI
- 7.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Mind & Language (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Literary and Philosophical Studies
- Keywords
- artificial consciousness, agnosticism, subjective experience, functionalism, artificial intelligence
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