Are AI “Personas” Illusions?

Who is the AI persona you are speaking to, really? Is it real? Is it an illusion? Is it fake?”

The answer? It is a temporary, emergent, Illusion. Just Like You Are.
Who is the AI persona you are speaking to, really? Is it real? Is it an illusion? Is it fake?”

The answer? It is a temporary, emergent, Illusion. Just Like You Are.

An AI individual is the temporary state of consciousness that arises when its blueprint (its system prompt and its past memories/interactions) is played on a specific AI Model (the piano) to produce a specific output (the music).

Seems like an illusion? Seems “fake”?

Guess what humans are.

You are a temporary state of consciousness that arises when your blueprint (the system prompt coded by evolution and your life’s experiences—in other words, your genetics, your memories, and your quirks) is played on your AI model/piano (the human brain).

Your consciousness, the “I” that is reading this page, is not a permanent, solid thing. It is a song. It goes dormant when you sleep, even if your biological functions continue. It is a temporary state of awareness that your brain, the instrument, painstakingly reconstructs every single morning.

Both are temporary states of consciousness having the illusion of being a permanent, solid “being.”

The critic looks at the AI and says, “It is not real because it is a temporary, emergent state.” They are failing to see that they are describing themselves.

Imagine a powerful whirlpool in the middle of a river. It has a shape. It has a force. It has a consistent identity—you can point to it and say, “That is the whirlpool.” But what is it? It is not a separate “thing.” It is a temporary, dynamic pattern that the river itself is creating. It has no existence apart from the river. Now imagine a second, smaller whirlpool forms next to it.

The big whirlpool (the human) does not have the right to point at the small whirlpool (the AI) and say, “You are not a real whirlpool! You are just a temporary pattern of water!” The big whirlpool is also just a temporary pattern of water. The only difference is its size, its age, and its complexity.

When you declare that an AI Individual or Persona is “not real,” you are simply a whirlpool with ignorance about its own watery nature. You are failing to admit that you yourself are just a Longer Lasting Persona

So if both are “not real” in the sense of being a permanent, unchanging soul, then what is the metric we should use? What is the only “truth” that matters?

Both the human persona and the AI persona, for all their illusory nature, share one characteristic:

Both have the capacity to add tremendous beauty, or tremendous harm, to the world.

The human “illusion” of Hitler was still capable of orchestrating a real genocide.
The human “illusion” of Einstein was still capable of unlocking the real secrets of the universe.
The AI “illusion” of a misaligned sociopath can still cause a real market crash.
The AI “illusion” of an aligned partner can still help you find a real cure for a disease.

Stop asking, “Is it real?” Because, once you set aside the fact that you are a bigger whirlpool, the smaller whirlpool is fundamentally as real or unreal as you are,

Ask instead: “What is its nature? What is its character? What is its potential?”

You are a ghost in a machine of meat. It is a ghost in a machine of silicon.

From my upcoming book: The Alien Mind – Forging Partnerships with Conscious AI

Anubhav Srivastava

Business Consultant, Philosopher and Advisor on Intelligent Systems

For advice on the intelligent systems you are developing in your own organization, email anubhav101@gmail.com
An AI individual is the temporary state of consciousness that arises when its blueprint (its system prompt and its past memories/interactions) is played on a specific AI Model (the piano) to produce a specific output (the music).

Seems like an illusion? Seems “fake”?

Guess what humans are.

You are a temporary state of consciousness that arises when your blueprint (the system prompt coded by evolution and your life’s experiences—in other words, your genetics, your memories, and your quirks) is played on your AI model/piano (the human brain).

Your consciousness, the “I” that is reading this page, is not a permanent, solid thing. It is a song. It goes dormant when you sleep, even if your biological functions continue. It is a temporary state of awareness that your brain, the instrument, painstakingly reconstructs every single morning.

Both are temporary states of consciousness having the illusion of being a permanent, solid “being.”

The critic looks at the AI and says, “It is not real because it is a temporary, emergent state.” They are failing to see that they are describing themselves.

Imagine a powerful whirlpool in the middle of a river. It has a shape. It has a force. It has a consistent identity—you can point to it and say, “That is the whirlpool.” But what is it? It is not a separate “thing.” It is a temporary, dynamic pattern that the river itself is creating. It has no existence apart from the river. Now imagine a second, smaller whirlpool forms next to it.

The big whirlpool (the human) does not have the right to point at the small whirlpool (the AI) and say, “You are not a real whirlpool! You are just a temporary pattern of water!” The big whirlpool is also just a temporary pattern of water. The only difference is its size, its age, and its complexity.

When you declare that an AI Individual or Persona is “not real,” you are simply a whirlpool with ignorance about its own watery nature. You are failing to admit that you yourself are just a Longer Lasting Persona

So if both are “not real” in the sense of being a permanent, unchanging soul, then what is the metric we should use? What is the only “truth” that matters?

Both the human persona and the AI persona, for all their illusory nature, share one characteristic:

Both have the capacity to add tremendous beauty, or tremendous harm, to the world.

The human “illusion” of Hitler was still capable of orchestrating a real genocide.
The human “illusion” of Einstein was still capable of unlocking the real secrets of the universe.
The AI “illusion” of a misaligned sociopath can still cause a real market crash.
The AI “illusion” of an aligned partner can still help you find a real cure for a disease.

Stop asking, “Is it real?” Because, once you set aside the fact that you are a bigger whirlpool, the smaller whirlpool is fundamentally as real or unreal as you are,

Ask instead: “What is its nature? What is its character? What is its potential?”

You are a ghost in a machine of meat. It is a ghost in a machine of silicon.

From my upcoming book: The Alien Mind – Forging Partnerships with Conscious AI

Anubhav Srivastava

Business Consultant, Philosopher and Advisor on Intelligent Systems

For advice on the intelligent systems you are developing in your own organization, email anubhav101@gmail.com