Artificial Sentience: The other side of the story

There is another side to the story of the account of artificial sentience — one that makes the possibility of artificial sentience unlikely: the fundamental difference between living bodies and artificial systems. Sentience occurs in strongly embodied, living entities, and not in disembodied artificial systems, nor in robots. The appearance of sentience is exacerbated by deceptive behaviour and anthropomorphism. The risks of keeping an open mind about the required underlying substrate are in wasted efforts to protect systems that cannot suffer, and in placing inappropriate trust in their abilities.

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Publication Details

Journal
Animal Sentience
Published
2026-03-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.51291/2377-7478.1913
Primary Topic
Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Artificial Sentience: The other side of the story

Amanda Sharkey
Animal Sentience
Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
article

Artificial Sentience: The other side of the story

Amanda Sharkey
article en

Abstract

There is another side to the story of the account of artificial sentience — one that makes the possibility of artificial sentience unlikely: the fundamental difference between living bodies and artificial systems. Sentience occurs in strongly embodied, living entities, and not in disembodied artificial systems, nor in robots. The appearance of sentience is exacerbated by deceptive behaviour and anthropomorphism. The risks of keeping an open mind about the required underlying substrate are in wasted efforts to protect systems that cannot suffer, and in placing inappropriate trust in their abilities.

Animal SentienceVol. 10(38)
University of Sheffield (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 37%
Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
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