# The feasibility of artificial consciousness through the lens of neuroscience

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.00915 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00915/

## Key facts

- Cited by 18 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 121 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Jun 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [PaLM-E: An Embodied Multimodal Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03378/) (2023)
- [Machine Theory of Mind](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.07740/) (2018)
- [The Debate Over Understanding in AI's Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13966/) (2022)
- [Coordination Among Neural Modules Through a Shared Global Workspace](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.01197/) (2021)
- [Toward Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence: Catalyzing the NeuroAI Revolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08340/) (2022)
- [Could a Large Language Model be Conscious?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07103/) (2023)
- [The neuroconnectionist research programme](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.03718/) (2022)
- [Deep Learning and the Global Workspace Theory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.10390/) (2020)
- [Mind the gap: Challenges of deep learning approaches to Theory of Mind](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.16540/) (2022)
- [On the link between conscious function and general intelligence in humans and machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.05133/) (2022)
- [If consciousness is dynamically relevant, artificial intelligence isn't conscious](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05077/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08708/) (2023)
- [Does It Make Sense to Speak of Introspection in Large Language Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.05068/) (2025)
- [A Philosophical Introduction to Language Models - Part II: The Way Forward](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.03207/) (2024)
- [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)
- [Is artificial consciousness achievable? Lessons from the human brain](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.04540/) (2024)
- [Dissociating Artificial Intelligence from Artificial Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.04571/) (2024)
- [Agnosticism About Artificial Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13145/) (2024)
- [Recognizing Limits: Investigating Infeasibility in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.05873/) (2024)
- [Identifying Features that Shape Perceived Consciousness in Large Language Model-based AI: A Quantitative Study of Human Responses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15365/) (2025)
- [Artificial intelligence and the internal processes of creativity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.04366/) (2024)
- [The Epistemic Asymmetry of Consciousness Self-Reports: A Formal Analysis of AI Consciousness Denial](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.05454/) (2024)
- [Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence? A Framework for Classifying Objections and Constraints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.16582/) (2025)
- [Just aware enough: Evaluating awareness across artificial systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.14901/) (2026)
- [AI and Consciousness: Shifting Focus Towards Tractable Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.06965/) (2026)
- [AI Consciousness and Existential Risk](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.19115/) (2025)
- [Interoceptive machine framework: Toward interoception-inspired regulatory architectures in artificial intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.24527/) (2026)
- [Anthropomorphism in the age of Large Language Models: An overview of potential risks and mitigations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.38486/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Interactions with large language models have led to the suggestion that these models may soon be conscious. From the perspective of neuroscience, this position is difficult to defend. For one, the inputs to large language models lack the embodied, embedded information content characteristic of our sensory contact with the world around us. Secondly, the architecture of large language models is missing key features of the thalamocortical system that have been linked to conscious awareness in mammals. Finally, the evolutionary and developmental trajectories that led to the emergence of living conscious organisms arguably have no parallels in artificial systems as envisioned today. The existence of living organisms depends on their actions, and their survival is intricately linked to multi-level cellular, inter-cellular, and organismal processes culminating in agency and consciousness.