Amanda Askell, Anthropic’s in-house philosopher, is sounding pretty conflicted about whether AI models can be conscious and have feelings. “We don’t really know what gives rise to consciousness,” she said in an episode of the “Hard Fork” podcast released Saturday. AI chatbots can certainly sound pretty humanlike on the surface, leading people to form all kinds of unhealthy relationships with them. “Maybe you need a nervous system to be able to feel things, but maybe you don’t,” Askell said. More on AI: AI Is Causing Cultural Stagnation, Researchers Find