Artificial-intelligence systems such as large language models (LLMs) can exhibit behaviour that seems strikingly intelligent. This has led many people, including some experts, to wonder whether these systems could have some form of consciousness — the capacity for subjective experience. However, we think that existing AI systems are not conscious, and that, along current trajectories of development, they are not likely to become conscious. Greater clarity about whether AI could become consciousness will be crucial as society grapples with the challenges posed by this increasingly powerful technology.
Yes, they are.
The two main inputs to an LLM are the prompt and a seed. Pass the same prompt and the same seed, and you get the exact same output every time.
Most commercial models automatically generate the seed using a PRNG and hide it from you by default, but with local models (and also OpenAI, via their API) you can set the seed yourself and keep it fixed.
IMO, this PRNG slight-of-hand is the largest underlying factor that helps convince confused people that LLMs are conscious or intelligent, and it’s very easy to show that’s it’s a complete illusion.