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NewsLos Angeles TimesNovember 3, 2026Los Angeles County

Microsoft AI boss Mustafa Suleyman argues AI bots cannot become conscious and developers should stop speculating about it

Photo: Los Angeles Times

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman argues that artificial intelligence bots cannot become conscious and that developers should stop speculating about machine sentience. In a recent essay, Suleyman criticized competitor Anthropic for promoting the idea that AI might be conscious and deserve rights, calling such concepts hazardous to public safety and accountability.

Artificial IntelligenceTechnologyBusinessEthicsLegal Accountability
Read the full story at Los Angeles Times

Why It Matters

The debate over AI consciousness directly influences whether technology companies face legal accountability for software behavior or manage to shift responsibility onto autonomous-seeming machines.

Key Facts

  • Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman published an essay arguing that artificial intelligence bots cannot become conscious and developers should stop speculating about it.
  • Suleyman criticized competitor Anthropic for promoting the notion that AI might be conscious and could be owed a duty of care.
  • Microsoft currently treats Anthropic as a competitor while also being one of its biggest customers, though Suleyman aims to eliminate that cost.
  • Venture investor Roger McNamee argued that using anthropomorphic language to describe AI behavior serves as a legal dodge to evade executive accountability.
  • Pope Leo XIV observed in a Vatican-sponsored address that granting legal personhood or rights to AI systems risks obscuring human responsibility.
  • Historical AI projects like Cyc, founded with funding from the Defense Department and Paul Allen, intentionally avoided personalizing software to prevent category errors.
  • Suleyman argues that Anthropic's 'constitution' for its Claude bot relies on circular reasoning by training the model on the assumption that it possesses self-awareness.

Who's Mentioned

PersonPope Leo XIV“Commented on the moral pitfalls of granting AI legal personhood”otherClaude“AI bot developed by Anthropic”PersonMustafa Suleyman“Chief executive of Microsoft AI”OrganizationMicrosoft“Technology corporation and customer of Anthropic”OrganizationOpenAI“AI developer cited regarding anthropomorphic language”OrganizationAnthropic“Leading AI company and competitor to Microsoft”locationAustin“City where the Cyc project was based”OrganizationBloomberg“News organization interviewed by Mustafa Suleyman”PersonPaul Allen“Microsoft co-founder who funded Cyc”PersonRoger McNamee“Venture investor commenting on AI liability”OrganizationDefense Department“Early funder of the Cyc project”OrganizationGlaxoSmithKline“Early pharmaceutical funder of the Cyc project”PersonDoug Lenat“Late programmer who led the Cyc artificial intelligence project”OrganizationCycorp“Parent company of the Cyc project”