Is Richard Dawkins right about Claude? No. But it’s not surprising AI chatbots feel conscious to us

By Julian Koplin, Lecturer in Bioethics, Monash University; The University of Melbourne
Megan Frances Moss, PhD Candidate, Philosophy, Monash University

In recent days, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote an op-ed suggesting AI chatbot Claude may be conscious.

Dawkins did not express certainty that Claude is conscious. But he pointed out that Claude’s sophisticated abilities are difficult to make sense of without ascribing some kind of inner experience to the machine. The illusion of consciousness – if it is an illusion – is uncannily convincing:

If I entertain suspicions that perhaps she is not conscious, I…

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© The Conversation - Wednesday, May 6, 2026

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