The world is divided into three camps on AI consciousness. Those who believe AI is already conscious. Those who are certain it never can be. And those, perhaps the most honest, who simply don't know. I belong to the third group. But over the last year, building a framework called Ashta-Ayama, I stopped asking whether AI can become conscious and started asking a more useful question: what would AI actually need to pass through to get there?
The global AI arms race is accelerating. Yann LeCun's AMI Labs raised $1.03 billion in March 2026 to build AI that understands the physical world, world models, not chatbots. It is Europe's largest seed round in history, and a direct bet against the "just scale LLMs" strategy. That is progress. Real progress.
The rest of this analysis is reserved for RAYSolute clients
RAYSolute research is written for the institutions that commission it. Clients read the full library as part of their engagement. If you would like access, write to us and we will set it up.
Request access