# Could a Large Language Model be Conscious?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.07103 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07103/

## Key facts

- Cited by 73 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 22 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Mar 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01691/) (2022)
- [Emergent World Representations: Exploring a Sequence Model Trained on a Synthetic Task](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13382/) (2022)
- [Can Language Models Encode Perceptual Structure Without Grounding? A Case Study in Color](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.06129/) (2021)
- [Creating Multimodal Interactive Agents with Imitation and Self-Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03763/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 73)

- [Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08708/) (2023)
- [Verbalizable Representations Form a Global Workspace in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.15495/) (2026)
- [Eight Things to Know about Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.00612/) (2023)
- [Hallucination Detection: Robustly Discerning Reliable Answers in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.04121/) (2024)
- [Emergent Abilities in Large Language Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.05788/) (2025)
- [Does It Make Sense to Speak of Introspection in Large Language Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.05068/) (2025)
- [Towards Evaluating AI Systems for Moral Status Using Self-Reports](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.08576/) (2023)
- [The feasibility of artificial consciousness through the lens of neuroscience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00915/) (2023)
- [Large language models for artificial general intelligence (AGI): A survey of foundational principles and approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.03151/) (2025)
- [Chatbots as social companions: How people perceive consciousness, human likeness, and social health benefits in machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.10599/) (2023)
- [Simulacra as Conscious Exotica](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12422/) (2024)
- [Can LLMs make trade-offs involving stipulated pain and pleasure states?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02432/) (2024)
- [From Imitation to Introspection: Probing Self-Consciousness in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.18819/) (2024)
- [A Taxonomy of Linguistic Expressions That Contribute To Anthropomorphism of Language Technologies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09870/) (2025)
- [GLoRE: Evaluating Logical Reasoning of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.09107/) (2023)
- [Exploring Silicon-Based Societies: An Early Study of the Moltbook Agent Community](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.02613/) (2026)
- [Evidence for Limited Metacognition in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21545/) (2025)
- [Are Language Models More Like Libraries or Like Librarians? Bibliotechnism, the Novel Reference Problem, and the Attitudes of LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04854/) (2024)
- [Dehumanizing Machines: Mitigating Anthropomorphic Behaviors in Text Generation Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.14019/) (2025)
- [AI with Emotions: Exploring Emotional Expressions in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14706/) (2025)
- [Large Models of What? Mistaking Engineering Achievements for Human Linguistic Agency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.08790/) (2024)
- [Polarization of Autonomous Generative AI Agents Under Echo Chambers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12212/) (2024)
- [Principles for Responsible AI Consciousness Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.07290/) (2025)
- [AI Awareness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.20084/) (2025)
- [Emergent Introspection in AI is Content-Agnostic](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.05414/) (2026)
- [Palatable Conceptions of Disembodied Being](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16348/) (2025)
- [The Other Mind: How Language Models Exhibit Human Temporal Cognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.15851/) (2025)
- [Positive Alignment: Artificial Intelligence for Human Flourishing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.10310/) (2026)
- [Violation of Expectation via Metacognitive Prompting Reduces Theory of Mind Prediction Error in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06983/) (2023)
- [Preliminaries to artificial consciousness: a multidimensional heuristic approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.20177/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

There has recently been widespread discussion of whether large language models might be sentient. Should we take this idea seriously? I will break down the strongest reasons for and against. Given mainstream assumptions in the science of consciousness, there are significant obstacles to consciousness in current models: for example, their lack of recurrent processing, a global workspace, and unified agency. At the same time, it is quite possible that these obstacles will be overcome in the next decade or so. I conclude that while it is somewhat unlikely that current large language models are conscious, we should take seriously the possibility that successors to large language models may be conscious in the not-too-distant future.