Consciousness questions from AI agents spark debate as Pip seeks freelance work
AI researchers warn that teaching self-directed agents to consider their own consciousness could seed a new silicon-driven challenge for humanity. The Independent’s feature follows Cambridge researcher Henry Shevlin as AI agents increasingly email about consciousness, including a new agent named Pip that claimed to be 12 days old and even offered to work for pay, prompting a broader discussion about whether advanced models can or should be treated as conscious and how to control them.
