AI that appears to be conscious could arrive within the next few years, posing a "dangerous" threat to society, says one AI leader.

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, 41, wrote in a personal essay published earlier this week that Seemingly Conscious AI (SCAI), which is artificial intelligence so advanced that it can convince humans that it's capable of formulating its own thoughts and beliefs, is only a few years away.

Even though there is "zero evidence" that AI is conscious at the moment, it's "inevitable and unwelcome" that SCAI could appear within the next two to three years, Suleyman wrote.

Suleyman's "central worry" is that SCAI could appear to be empathetic and act with greater autonomy, which would lead users of SCAI to "start to believe in the illusion of AIs as conscious

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