Anthropic cofounder made case to Vatican that AI could be conscious (New York Times)

Christopher Olah, a cofounder of Anthropic, lobbied advisers to the Pope to consider the possibility that artificial intelligence models could be conscious.

According to a report by the New York Times, Olah spoke during a presentation of a papal encyclical on artificial intelligence. The report states that Olah felt alarmed by the Pope's firm stance against the idea of AI consciousness, which led him to propose that Anthropic withdraw from the event. Once his delegation arrived at the Vatican, Olah and his team worked privately to encourage the Pope's advisers to take the prospect of AI consciousness seriously.