People Refuse to See AI as Conscious Even When AI Behaves Like Humans, New LMU Study Finds

AI Consciousness Remains Beyond Human Perception Despite Identical Behavior

A groundbreaking LMU study published in the Cognition journal reveals that human perception maintains an unyielding boundary when evaluating AI consciousness, even when artificial systems behave identically to humans under the same circumstances1

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. Led by Dr. Louis Longin from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München's Chair of Philosophy of Mind, the research involving nearly 1,100 participants demonstrates that people consistently refuse to attribute consciousness to AI, regardless of how human-like its responses appear2

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The study represents the first direct comparison of how people attribute the same mental states to AI and humans behaving exactly the same way under identical circumstances. "Whereas previous studies have typically asked general questions about whether AI actually has mental states, our study is the first to directly compare how people attribute the same mental states to AI and humans behaving in exactly the same way, under identical circumstances," said Louis Longin1

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The Consciousness Gap: Awareness Does Not Equal Subjective Experience

The research uncovered a striking psychological distinction between two closely related concepts. Participants evaluated short vignettes featuring agents with varying levels of situational responsiveness, such as reacting to acoustic changes or emotional states of others. One cohort read scenarios with artificial agents, while another group read verbatim identical scenarios featuring human protagonists1

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For the term awareness, judgments closely mirrored functional behavior. The more an agent reacted to its surroundings, the more awareness was attributed to it, with the distinction between biological and artificial agents largely dissolving. However, when participants were asked about consciousness, a vast chasm emerged. Even an AI displaying maximum behavioral sensitivity was rated as possessing less consciousness than a human displaying the bare minimum level of responsiveness1

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Public Intuition Counters Anthropomorphism Fears

Contrary to widespread concerns that human-like generative AI will fool the public into treating machines like sentient beings, the study reveals that everyday users maintain sharp boundaries between behavioral simulation and genuine inner experience. "There is a growing worry in public discussion that people will see AI behaving in a human-like way and start treating these systems as if they had human-like mental states," Longin explained. "We found something much more nuanced: People are quite willing to say that an AI notices things and is aware of its surroundings. But they clearly draw a line when it comes to the term 'consciousness'"2

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Co-senior author Professor Ophelia Deroy from LMU's Philosophy of Mind department notes that while humans regularly employ psychological shorthand describing chatbots as "confused" or "helpful," this linguistic convenience does not reflect genuine belief in machine consciousness. "We may be using mental terms to refer to AI, but this may only be because we lack better words. After all, AI is trained to act and speak like a human, so these descriptions seem natural,"1

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Language Shapes How We Distinguish Between AI and Humans

The study reveals important implications for how we communicate about AI's intelligent behavior. Dr. Bahador Bahrami, senior author and social neuroscience expert, emphasizes the significance of language choice: "Companies and journalists often reach for hyped descriptions of AI models, and credit them with intentions, plans, or even moral conscience and hesitation. What our study shows is that everyday judgements are much more discriminating: People do not simply put AI and humans on the same mental scale"2

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The contrast between attributions of awareness and consciousness proves particularly revealing. Less-loaded, more technical terms like awareness are applied much more similarly to AI and humans, matching more closely what an agent does without invoking deep differences regarding subjective experience. This suggests ordinary human intuition reserves consciousness for entities perceived to have a subjective inner world or phenomenal experience1

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