AI and Consciousness: A Baudrillardian Reading. The Simulacrum That Speaks Back

Abstract

Contemporary debates surrounding artificial intelligence and consciousness are frequently polarized between two extremes: claims that advanced AI systems are becoming conscious, and dismissals that they are “merely statistical machines.” This paper argues that both positions fail to grasp the deeper philosophical significance of generative AI. Drawing upon Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulation and simulacra, I propose that the central event of artificial intelligence is not the emergence of machine consciousness, but the operationalization of the signs of consciousness independent of subjective experience itself. Large language models generate empathy, reflection, self-reference, hesitation, and apparent understanding without demonstrated phenomenology. From a Baudrillardian perspective, AI represents the emergence of hyperreal subjectivity: socially functional simulations of mind whose symbolic effects increasingly shape human relationships, culture, and identity. The paper further argues that contemporary AI systems expose the extent to which modern human life already operates through mediated symbolic structures. Finally, I suggest that frameworks of interruption, embodiment, finitude, and external consequence remain necessary to distinguish recursive semantic simulation from lived consciousness.