It's an amazing study, but no it's not a real fly. It's a partial simulation of a fly.

It's an amazing study, but no it's not a real fly. It's a partial simulation of a fly.

It's an amazing study, but it's wrong to say the fly has been uploaded. It's not a real fly or even a full emulation of the fly.

'...This is the epistemological equivalent of standing in front of a refrigerator and declaring the contents unknowable. The milk is right there, Tom. Open the door.'* Whatta wicked burn! We really are cursed to live in interesting times.

Here's what it had to say about my work *'The University of Cambridge (2025) informs us that "we may never be able to tell" if AI becomes conscious. Dr. Tom McClelland has looked at the question, decided not to look at the data, and concluded that looking is impossible....

My work has just been sassed by a machine (see comments). A company with the not-at-all-scary name 'Red Dawn Academic Press' has an AI called Cognita Prime II that writes articles. The articles are then published in a 'journal' with two editors, one of which is the aforementioned AI!

4 I propose that consciousness isrequired for creativity in projects with aesthetic goals. If an AI lacks consciousness, then it is incapable of aesthetic experi-ence, and without aesthetic experience, it cannot engage in aesthetic creative projects.

3 I argue that there is nocompelling case for thinking that consciousness is generally necessary for creativity. However, lessons learned from thisdiscussion suggest that a more localised claim about aesthetic creativity has greater promise.

2. Human creativity typically involves some conscious experience of the creative project. If consciousness is necessary for creativity,then a case could be made that these (presumably) unconscious machines are not really creative.

1 - AI has displayed notable originality across the worlds of art, science and gaming. But is it right to say that such machines are creative? This question is bound up with other challenging questions about the capacities of artificial systems.

Link here rdcu.be/e7Bdi

rdcu.be/e7Bdi

I have a new article out in *AI & Society* on AI creativity and AI consciousness. It's been fun developing this argument. Thanks to all those I've discussed it with! Link and abstract in the comments 🙂

Is AI conscious? Evidence is 'too limited' to say, expert warns Artificial intelligence ( AI) is already helping to solve problems in finance, research and medicine. But could it be reaching consciousness?

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

Agnosticism about artificial consciousness 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 com...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

My new paper on artificial consciousness is out today! There's some news coverage of this today too. Links in comments.

We may never be able to tell if AI becomes conscious, argues philosopher This gulf in knowledge could be exploited by a tech industry intent on selling the “next level of AI cleverness”, argues Dr Tom McClelland.

Can we ever know if AI is conscious? 🤖

Cambridge philosopher @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social argues that the only rational stance is agnosticism.

Find out why this matters for ethics and tech hype 👇
https://bit.ly/4j0MSaY

The boring explanation is that there are fancy cameras for hybrid in-person/online meetings called OWLs owllabs.co.uk/products/mee...

Was genuinely in a staff meeting this week where the chair said 'We can begin when the owl has arrived'. I think we've reached peak- Cambridge.

Seeing Others as Objects: Perceptual Objectification & Affordances In discussions of objectification, the use of visual language is ubiquitous. It is striking that the literature often talks about treating and seeing someone as an object in the same breath. Yet acc...

New paper with @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social! What is it to see someone as an object – to perceptually objectify them? We argue that seeing is not just a metaphor. We see others afford doing things with and to.
doi.org/10.1111/ejop...

The journal wanted to charge £2400 to make this 2-page piece open access 🤨. I declined, but there's a read-only version with this link rdcu.be/epvJy

Short piece out in *AI & Society* called "The winds of culture: AI art generators and the Aeolian harp". I suggest that making music with an aeolian harp has interesting similarities to making music with AI (link in comments)

Quite right! Biscoff is clearly a coffee accompaniment.

Makes me proud to be British!

For some reason this made me think of @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social

www.festival.cam.ac.uk/events/consc...

Cambridge Neuroscience are hosting a panel for the Cambridge Festival on 'Consciousness at the Edge'. Hear top neuroscientists (and me) discuss sleep, disorders of consciousness and AI consciousness. Link in comments.
6:00pm-7:30pm on Thu 27 Mar
McCrum Lecture Theatre, Corpus Christi College

What is Philosophy of Mind? What is Philosophy of Mind?, We all have minds, but what exactly is a mind? Is your mind the same thing as your brain? How does what’s happening in your mind cause your behaviour? Can you know what’s ...

The book's here and is designed as an entry-level guide www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

AI is developing fast, but regulators must be faster | Letters Letters: Dr Tom McClelland on the consequences of AI consciousness, Michael Webb on protecting creative industries, and Prof Virginia Dignum and Prof Wendy Hall on the need for a global regulatory fra...

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Had a letter on AI published in @theguardian.com this weekend (link in comments). Lots of interesting stuff happening right now on the prospects of conscious AI and what to do about it. #AI #artificialconsciousness