The brain-as-computer metaphor shaped modern AI but may be misleading the consciousness debate

Manuel Uth Nov 8, 2026 Three leading consciousness researchers argue today’s AI isn’t conscious and probably can’t be on silicon hardware. They reject the idea that running the right computations is enough for consciousness, challenging a central assumption in the debate. Anil Seth, Ned Block, and Giulio Tononi have spent decades researching consciousness from the perspectives of experimental neuroscience, theoretical neurobiology, and philosophy of mind. Their commentary responds to voices like biologist Richard Dawkins and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, who consider AI systems possibly already conscious. In their commentary for Nature, the authors also point to a study…