Artificial-intelligence systems such as large language models (LLMs) can exhibit behaviour that seems strikingly intelligent. This has led many people, including some experts, to wonder whether these systems could have some form of consciousness — the capacity for subjective experience. However, we think that existing AI systems are not conscious, and that, along current trajectories of development, they are not likely to become conscious. Greater clarity about whether AI could become consciousness will be crucial as society grapples with the challenges posed by this increasingly powerful technology.
(book? The linked article is like 4 pages. References are somewhat larger, but nothing over 60 afaict?)
They claim that silicon is essentially incapable of doing what is needed; if you disagree with this, then computationally everything you can build with a circuit board + SSD + RAM you can build with an LLM with a deep layer or 7. In particular, you can do online learning of a sort.
I note that wasps and some beetles don’t seem to have memory whatsoever, and plasticity seems awfully low. The authors, and I think most people, would say they are probably a little conscious.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54503521-a-thousand-brains
That book, not the article. I can’t recall if it makes a convincing argument about consciousness, but it has a lot to say about general intelligence. I thought the neuroscience parts were a little cumbersome, but still worth the read.