SocietyAI glossary
Artificial consciousness
The question of whether an AI could one day feel something, have a lived experience, and not merely give the impression of one. No proof exists today, but researchers take the question seriously, hence the debates about model welfare.
In other words
An actor can cry in a heart-wrenching way without being sad: talking like a conscious being does not prove that one is one.
Alyriaz articles that mention it
- A group is campaigning against the removal of AI models
A advocacy group is calling for a halt to AI model retirements. We examine the claim, what it assumes, and the real problem it highlights.
- What if AI discovered that our knowledge is incomplete?
For centuries, the frontiers of knowledge were pushed back by human ingenuity alone. In 2026, for the first time, AIs are discovering new mathematical algorithms, new protein structures, new approaches in physics. What can AI really do for our understanding of reality? And are there things it could discover that no human would ever have imagined?
- 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 30 years: what current research tells us about the future of AI
You cannot read the future. But you can build credible scenarios from current research and the predictions of credible experts. Here is what researchers genuinely expect for 2027, 2031, 2036 and 2056. No hype, no doom-mongering: just the hypotheses that hold up against the facts of 2026.
- Are your school textbooks written by ChatGPT? The scandal that is blowing the lid off
A computing textbook printed in 2026 contains, in black and white, a sentence typical of ChatGPT left in the text by mistake: "If you want, I can also explain columns, primary keys, or other DBMS terms". The image goes viral on Instagram. At UCLA, a professor publishes a medieval literature textbook entirely generated by AI and publicly defends her choice. Here is what these cases really reveal.
- Is AI conscious? Why researchers no longer dare to say no
In our previous article, we explained technically how AI works, and we asked a dizzying question: if we cannot prove our own consciousness, and a "lifeless" tool reproduces our emotions to perfection, does the difference really exist? Here is what the researchers who are seriously asking themselves this question in 2026 think.