New Delhi, Sept. 22 -- AI agents are not conscious. They do not feel, experience or suffer. They do not have innate preferences or underlying motivations. They are sequence completion engines, internally hollow, designed to follow instructions and accomplish goals set by humans.

If humanity is to flourish in the 21st century, that is how they must remain. Unfortunately, a growing chorus of people argue that AIs could now be, or may soon become, conscious, and that, like other conscious beings, they may deserve rights and protections. If this view takes hold, it will change what it means to be human and shake human society.

More importantly, granting rights and imbuing personhood to these systems will make the AI alignment and containmen...