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Iulia Comşa

@astronomind.bsky.social

Research Scientist @ Google DeepMind (views my own). AI, consciousness, cognition, philosophy of mind. Mother and dreamer. 🇷🇴 I also like:🌠🔭✍🏻🧠🎹🎵🌲🎮🥋 iulia.net

Posts Replies Media

Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

🔗 Read the paper here: arxiv.org/html/2605.06...

arxiv.org

AI and Consciousness: Shifting Focus Towards Tractable Questions

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Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I’m very grateful to my colleagues, including @mpshanahan.bsky.social , @david-p-reichert.bsky.social , @sebk.bsky.social, for great feedback and thought-provoking discussions on the timely and fascinating topic of AI consciousness! ✨

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Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

5/5 Finally, I advocate for transparency. We should acknowledge the field's inherent uncertainties rather than hard-code false epistemic confidence into models when users ask, "Are you conscious?". 🪞

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Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

4/5 Because of this discrepancy, I argue we should increase our focus on understanding the causes and effects of perceived AI consciousness. This phenomenon is tractable, timely, and may shape our society, ethics, and language long before science finds definitive answers. 🧭

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Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

3/5 Yet, despite the scientific uncertainty, some users appear increasingly open to the possibility of AI consciousness. People routinely use language from the domains of human cognition and subjective experience to talk about current models. 🗣️

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Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

2/5 The "ground truth" question of whether artificial entities can genuinely have subjective experience is, I argue, currently scientifically intractable in its direct form. Our best empirical frameworks rely on debated, non-universal assumptions like computational functionalism. 🔒

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Iulia Comşa @astronomind.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

1/5 The topic of AI consciousness is sparking growing inquiry. But are we focusing on the problems we can actually solve? I explore this in my new paper: "AI and Consciousness: Shifting Focus Towards Tractable Questions." 📃

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