Identifying Features that Shape Perceived Consciousness in Large Language Model-based AI: A Quantitative Study of Human Responses

Humans perceive AI consciousness more when AI reflects on its own thoughts or expresses emotions, a key insight from analyzing 99 AI conversations. Researchers surveyed 123 people, revealing that features like metacognition and AI emotionality significantly boost perceived consciousness (cs.AI, cs.CL). Conversely, a heavy emphasis on knowledge reduced it. This illuminates the complex, individualized nature of human-computer interaction (cs.HC, K.4) and its psychosocial implications (cs.CY, I.2.7).

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study quantitively examines which features of AI-generated text lead humans to perceive subjective consciousness in large language model (LLM)-based AI systems. Drawing on 99 passages from conversations with Claude 3 Opus and focusing on eight features -- metacognitive self-reflection, logical reasoning, empathy, emotionality, knowledge, fluency, unexpectedness, and subjective expressiveness -- we conducted a survey with 123 participants. Using regression and clustering analyses, we investigated how these features influence participants' perceptions of AI consciousness. The results reveal that metacognitive self-reflection and the AI's expression of its own emotions significantly increased perceived consciousness, while a heavy emphasis on knowledge reduced it. Participants clustered into seven subgroups, each showing distinct feature-weighting patterns. Additionally, higher prior knowledge of LLMs and more frequent usage of LLM-based chatbots were associated with greater overall likelihood assessments of AI consciousness. This study underscores the multidimensional and individualized nature of perceived AI consciousness and provides a foundation for better understanding the psychosocial implications of human-AI interaction.