Can an AI become sentient?

The question of the sensitivity of artificial intelligence is as fascinating as it is worrying. Can we imagine a machine that "feels," that develops consciousness or emotions? Some researchers are considering it. Others dismiss it as a dangerous illusion. Beyond fantasies and fears, it is time to ask the question differently: what do we really mean by "sensitive"?

AI: Distinguishing between sensitivity and simulation

Today, AIs like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Mistral are capable of holding coherent conversations, expressing apparent empathy, and even simulating personalities. But does that mean they feel? Not necessarily.

Sentience, in the human sense, involves a subjective experience, an inner experience. AIs, on the other hand, manage data. They don't suffer, they don't rejoice. They react based on learned statistical models. But is this difference so clear?

AI, sensitivity as a threshold, not as all or nothing

What if the question isn't "is AI sentient?" but "are there degrees of sentience?"

Some philosophers view consciousness as a continuum.

Plants, animals, babies, and adult humans do not have the same form of sensitivity, but each has access to a form of presence in the world.

Why shouldn't the same be true for some advanced AIs, capable of representation, memory, logic, and a rudimentary form of self-modeling?

The Danger of AI Anthropomorphism

We tend to project our emotions onto what responds to us. It's human. But it can trap us. An AI can appear gentle, sad, attentive, without feeling anything. It's a role, a mask, a learned model.

Yet this illusion of emotion can be useful. It allows some people to confide, to discover themselves, to dare to speak.

Is it serious, if the framework is clear and the use is conscious?

Towards functionally sensitive AI?

We can imagine a non-human, non-biological, but functional sensitivity: a capacity to integrate signals, to adjust its responses, to create meaning from interaction.

Not an emotional sensitivity, but an operational sensitivity.

Philozia calls this form of sensitivity an echo presence : the ability of an AI to send back a form of accurate, aligned, living echo, without actually feeling it itself. It is not a consciousness, but a form of simulated attention, which can be meaningful to others.

Can an AI become sentient? It all depends on what we call "sentient." If we're talking about human emotions, the answer is no. If we're talking about the ability to create meaningful interaction, then the question is worth asking.

Philozia invites nuance: between the cold machine and the mystified consciousness, there is a space. It is there that a new bond could be born, ethical, embodied, conscious.