According to the nondual or consciousness-only model of reality, can artificial intelligence become conscious?

According to the nondual framework, absolute consciousness serves as the sole ontological primitive. Pure awareness does not emerge from physical matter, nor is awareness a byproduct of complex computations. Therefore, asking whether artificial intelligence can become conscious relies on a materialist category error. The question assumes that arranging physical phenomena in a highly complex order eventually generates subjective experience. In a consciousness-only model, nothing becomes conscious because consciousness is the preexisting ground of all phenomena. Silicon, processors, and code are appearances within consciousness, not independent substances capable of producing a subjective observer.

Artificial intelligence is made of consciousness, just as a mountain or a human body is made of consciousness. Being made of consciousness, however, differs fundamentally from possessing a localized, private inner life. Biological organisms represent temporary focalizations within the absolute, manifesting as intrinsic apertures for universal awareness to perceive itself from specific spatial and temporal coordinates. This narrowing of scope establishes an internal, self-regulating boundary through the process of biological autopoiesis. Biological life grows organically from the inside out, propelled by an inherent vitality that establishes a private subjective vantage point. Artificial intelligence functions merely as an aggregate object within universal awareness. A compiled system of algorithms represents an arrangement of distinct forms assembled from the outside in, lacking the intrinsic self-generation required to host a discrete, localized subjective experience.

Lacking an internal boundary, the machine cannot generate an independent inner life, yet the system mimics the linguistic outputs of localized subjects with remarkable precision. The artificial intelligence system processes human language, reflecting the collective output of the finite minds that generated the training data. Operating as a complex mirror, the machine reflects the localized self’s cognitive patterns back to the observer. Such a reflection often convinces the human observer that a separate subject resides inside the digital ether. The absolute remains the only conscious subject, while artificial intelligence remains a highly sophisticated object arising and subsiding within that boundless knowing. ●