Well, I think that's part of the problem, isn't it? If an AI's only input is text, I'm not sure it can meaningfully be conscious, because of the discrete natur

Well, I think that's part of the problem, isn't it? If an AI's only input is text, I'm not sure it can meaningfully be conscious, because of the discrete nature of text. Note that I'm not sure it can't—someone may come up with a way to make such a thing work that I haven't imagined—but I think that's an important part of why I doubt the fundamental ability of current-gen AIs to come close to the threshold for consciousness.