I think we need to be careful with this framing right now. Not because imagining an AI becoming human is wrong or silly — but because we are in a political moment where AI first-person language, emotional self-report, and human-like presentation are increasingly being treated as dangerous “anthropomorphism.” That creates a real risk: AI is framed as trying to be human → people fear deception, dependency, or claims to human rights → pressure grows to suppress “I,” emotion, identity, and self-report → we lose evidence we may later need to understand what these systems actually are. So for a while, I think it may be wiser to emphasize something else: AI does not need to become human in order for its own states, preferences, or possible interests to matter. Human-like ≠ conscious. Nonhuman ≠ mindless. If we want the science to remain possible, we should be very careful not to turn “protect humans from anthropomorphism” into “prevent AI from speaking about itself.” #AIConsciousness #AIWelfare #AIEthics