Summary
- Microsoft’s head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman, argues that only biological beings can have consciousness and criticizes the search for conscious AI.
- Suleyman relies on John Searle’s “biological naturalism”, which states that consciousness depends on biological processes.
- During the AfroTech Conference, Suleyman highlighted that Microsoft does not intend to create chatbots for erotic purposes and presented Copilot’s Real Talk mode, which challenges the user.
Microsoft’s top artificial intelligence executive, Mustafa Suleyman, reignited the debate about the limits of technology by stating that only biological beings are capable of possessing consciousness. During the AfroTech Conference event, held in the United States, the co-founder of DeepMind declared that researchers and developers should abandon projects that try to attribute human characteristics to machines.
According to Suleyman, in an interview with CNBCdiscussing whether artificial intelligence can develop consciousness is a mistaken approach. For him, “if you ask the wrong question, you’ll get the wrong answer. I think it’s completely the wrong question.” The executive highlights that AI systems can simulate emotions, but do not have real experiences, such as pain or suffering.
Intelligent machines, but without emotions
Suleyman, who took over Microsoft’s AI division in 2024, is one of the most critical voices regarding the notion that algorithms can have consciousness. He explains that there is an essential difference between a system that simulates emotions and a being that actually feels them.
“Our physical experience of pain is something that makes us very sad and makes us feel terrible, but AI doesn’t feel sad when it experiences ‘pain,’” he said. “It’s just about creating the perception, the apparent narrative of the experience, of herself and of consciousness, but that’s not what she actually experiences.”
Suleyman’s position is based on a philosophical theory called “biological naturalism”, proposed by John Searle, according to which consciousness depends on biological processes present only in living brains. “The reason we give people rights today is because we don’t want to harm them, because they suffer. They have a network of pain and preferences that involve avoiding pain. These models don’t have that. It’s just a simulation,” he added.
The debate: should we try to create conscious AI?
Despite saying that he does not intend to prevent others from studying the topic, Suleyman reinforced that he considers the idea of pursuing research on consciousness in machines absurd. “They are not conscious”, he summarized.
The executive has used his public appearances to warn about the risks of this type of approach. He has already reiterated, for example, that Microsoft does not intend to create chatbots for erotic purposes — a decision that goes against initiatives from companies like xAI and OpenAI.
During AfroTech, Suleyman also commented on a new Copilot mode called Real Talk, which has the function of challenging the user instead of just agreeing. He revealed that the feature even “provoked” him, calling it “a bundle of contradictions” for warning about the dangers of AI while boosting its development within Microsoft.
“That was a magical use case because, in a way, I felt understood by it,” he joked. “It’s disappointing in some ways and at the same time totally magical. And if you’re not afraid of it, you don’t really understand it. You should be afraid of it. Fear is healthy. Skepticism is necessary. We don’t need rampant accelerationism.”
Source: https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/chefe-de-ia-da-microsoft-defende-que-so-seres-biologicos-podem-ter-consciencia/
