A Sartrean Criterion for AI Consciousness
August 4, 2026
In this article, I will attempt a small intervention in contemporary artificial intelligence discussions with an old philosophical example. Our hypothesis is this: ”Artificial intelligence is very powerful at defining and reproducing existing patterns. However, experiencing that which is not there, absence, negation, and nothingness, as a lived condition belongs exclusively to human consciousness.” Jean-Paul Sartre, in his famous “Cafe Example” from his 1943 work “Being and Nothingness“, describes the experience of someone entering a crowded cafe to find a…