The title threshold can go both ways. The title "Here's how we'll know..." is likely to be a higher threshold than an entity actually achieving consciousness -

The title threshold can go both ways. The title "Here's how we'll know..." is likely to be a higher threshold than an entity actually achieving consciousness -- one could be conscious yet not meet our threshold of detection. The author also mentions some events that might seem to indicate consciousness when none exists. Of course, the whole question is confounded by our lack of a good definition of consciousness. Yet, the tragedy the author raises, of pulling the plug on a conscious but 'locked-in' person who cannot make expressions, applied to a potentially conscious AI, brings home the question of 'when is it no longer just a machine'?