Sentience is usually defined as the ability to perceive/feel things. One way to see this is that sentience and language processing are just two aspects availab

Sentience is usually defined as the ability to perceive/feel things. One way to see this is that sentience and language processing are just two aspects available to us in consciousness. We are also not identical to our thoughts or feelings, but most people never pause to contemplate this. I suspect the autopilot you describe is really closer to our default state, but it’s easier to notice when in a calm state and the “me-ness” of actions/thoughts doesn’t feel so strong.