Richard Dawkins and the question of AI consciousness | letters

I was pleased to see Dr. Read Simon Nieder’s compelling refutation of Richard Dawkins’ attribution of consciousness to AI-induced responses (Letters, May 10). That human consciousness seems to have an innate tendency to project itself onto various othernesses has long been known – John Ruskin called it the pathetic fallacy – and that children bring their beloved toys to life is easy to observe.

But Wordsworth’s attribution of emotion to a mountain or my granddaughter’s animated conversations with Spice, her toy sloth, are fortunately unlikely to be dangerous. The conclusion that a comprehensive body of data about human reactions equates to consciousness is naive and quite shocking for someone like Prof. Dawkins, who has based his reputation and criticism of religious beliefs on strict rationalism.
Salley Vickers
London

Dr. Simon Nieder is right that convincing behavior alone is not evidence of subjective experience. But his argument also runs the risk of assuming that…