The Philosophical Debate: AI, Consciousness, and the Human Soul

The debate surrounding AI consciousness inextricably begins with the foundational challenge of defining consciousness itself. What constitutes this elusive phenomenon, this subjective experience of being? Philosophers grapple with the “hard problem” of consciousness, coined by David Chalmers, which asks why and how physical processes give rise to qualitative, subjective experiences, or qualia. This is distinct from the “easy problems” of consciousness, which relate