Consciousness and Generative Artificial Intelligence. An Integrative Review of Philosophical, Empirical, and Contemplative Perspectives
The question of whether generative AI systems could be conscious cannot be answered by any single field. This review synthesizes 76 sources across philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and Buddhist thought, organizing them into five thematic clusters: the hard problem of consciousness, phenomenological and embodied perspectives, empirical frameworks like Integrated Information Theory and Global Workspace Theory, Buddhist views on awareness and selfhood, and behavioral evidence from AI. The authors argue that progress requires interdisciplinary dialogue and that the question itself functions as a provocation for rethinking consciousness, subjecthood, and institutional responsibilities rather than a problem to be solved.