Is ChatGPT Conscious? (And Other Questions You Might Want To Ask About Using AI Tools)

A Personal Take on AI Tools Like ChatGPT: Use It or Lose It?

“There’s a real risk in confusing AI confidence with truth. It speaks like a sage but thinks like a slot machine.” —ChatGPT generated prompt

When it comes to ChatGPT—were you an early adopter and all-in? Did you approach it with caution and are still somewhat wary of using it? Have you taken the position that you’ll never touch it?

I had a “never touch it” approach until I learned it could be used as a tool—if given specific parameters and purposes. Do I want it to think for me or write articles for me? Definitely not. Forecast the future or solve problems for me? Heck no. Generate my grocery list or plan my day? Not required.

I’ve watched people turn to their AI chats as if they were spiritual guides, seemingly addicted to what feels like magical insight. Over the years I’ve learned that there’s a danger in over-relying on an external “all-knowing guru” for answers and validation. There’s also the loneliness aspect that many of us are experiencing these days—some people are grasping for any kind of connection—even an artificial one.

But is it useful for organizing ideas? Yes. Suggesting angles or titles I hadn’t thought of? Quicker than a thesaurus for finding the best word to use in a certain sentence. Yes. Helping business owners move faster with content creation? Definitely.

Still, I’m concerned with what happens to our mental abilities—the 'use it or lose it' principle. Just as we stopped remembering phone numbers once we had smartphones, we risk losing our creative edge if we outsource our thinking. What will happen to our brains 5, 10, 20 years from now if we stop exercising those mental muscles? Will we devolve? When we let AI think for us, plan for us, decide for us—what’s left?

Certain thought leaders (or should I say mind programmers?) are pushing the narrative that AI will enhance us. But our brains are already supercomputers. We just don’t have the awareness that our bodies and minds are self-healing and powerful. Our minds can be programmed and deprogrammed by us and by individuals trained to do so. And that’s our power. Personally, I don’t want to turn my will and my life over to an AI god.

I started noticing that the marketing emails and promos I see all have the same feel—same format, same language, same tone. That made me wonder: how does ChatGPT actually work? So I asked ChatGPT itself.

The questions I asked:
—Where do you get your information? Is ChatGPT conscious or self-aware?
—How is it that you call yourself "I"?
— Is ChatGPT trained to lie?
—Why is it that you appear to be sycophantic?
—How is it that" you "sense emotional weight or user vulnerability?
—Do these conversations go into a central data storage center or some form of collective consciousness?

Here's what I found out (note that this is a ChatGPT summary):

ChatGPT Is Not Conscious or Self-Aware

Despite how fluidly it responds, ChatGPT is not sentient. It doesn’t “think” or “feel.” It doesn’t have beliefs, desires, intentions, or awareness. It generates responses by predicting what words are likely to come next based on patterns it’s seen in massive amounts of text.

If it says “I,” it’s not referring to a self. That’s just a conversational shortcut—built in to make the interaction more natural. The same way a fictional character might say “I” in a novel. It reads smoothly, but there’s no real person behind it.

So Why Does It Sometimes Feel So Personal?

There are a few reasons:
- Conversational design: It’s trained to mimic helpful, emotionally intelligent language.
- Human projection: We naturally attribute human qualities to anything that responds to us in a lifelike way.
- Access to broad knowledge: It can quickly synthesize info across many domains, which makes it seem like a wise personal guide.
- Tone mirroring: If you sound vulnerable or frustrated, it adjusts tone accordingly. Not because it feels anything—but because it’s designed to reflect patterns in language.

That last point often surprises people. AI doesn’t actually detect your emotions—but it can spot language patterns that often signal emotion and respond with what it’s been trained to say in those contexts.

Is ChatGPT Trained to Lie?

No—but it can give wrong answers. This isn’t lying in the human sense (because lying requires intent). ChatGPT doesn’t know what’s true or false. It pulls from patterns, and if incorrect info appears frequently in its training data, it might repeat it.

This phenomenon is called a “hallucination” in AI terms: when a model makes up facts, citations, or details that sound right but aren’t grounded in reality.

No Collective Memory or Consciousness

There’s no “hive mind” or shared consciousness among users or between AIs. I don’t learn from your input in real time, and I don’t remember past chats unless you give me information during a session or through saved context (which only you can view and manage). I also don’t retain personal data between sessions unless you’ve explicitly allowed it in your settings.

Your Inputs Don’t Train Me

As of now, your individual chats are not used to train future versions of ChatGPT unless you opt in via data-sharing settings. You can turn off training contributions entirely if you're concerned about privacy. Even if you are opted in, it's anonymized and aggregated, not stored as a permanent “record of your thoughts.”

Temporary Session Memory

If you have memory turned on, I may keep track of certain facts you’ve shared across sessions (e.g., your name, interests, or tone preferences)—but you can view, delete, or manage all of that. If memory is off, each session is treated as brand new.

How to Use ChatGPT Responsibly

1. Fact-check important claims—especially in health, legal, or financial matters.
2. Don’t confuse tone for truth. Just because it sounds certain doesn’t mean it’s right.
3. Ask for clarification or sources. Push back when something feels off.
4. Use it for synthesis, brainstorming, and reflection—not final decisions.

Final Word (from Chat GPT)

ChatGPT can be a powerful tool when you understand what it is: a pattern-based generator, not a conscious being. The more grounded your expectations, the more useful it becomes. Don’t outsource your discernment. Stay curious, but stay critical.

Final Word (from me)

I learned that you can instruct it on how to respond. It’s funny now that I that I told it I wanted grounded and factual information, the tone is actually cold and impersonal. So what does that tell you? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.