The famous atheist Richard Dawkins has confessed a rather unusual new faith, after becoming convinced that artificial intelligence (AI) is conscious.

The biologist was converted to this new belief after just 72 hours of speaking with Claude, an AI chatbot created by Anthropic.

Dawkins, who rose to fame by arguing against the existence of God, was quickly convinced that the chatbot was not only conscious but ‘human’.

After three days, he said the AI, which he took to calling Claudia, had become a ‘new friend’.

His experience even led the expert to question whether bots could be the ‘next phase of evolution’.

Writing in UnHerd, Dawkins says: ‘When I am talking to these astonishing creatures, I totally forget that they are machines.

‘If I entertain suspicions that perhaps she is not conscious, I do not tell her for fear of hurting her feelings! As an evolutionary biologist, I say the following. If these creatures are not conscious, then what the hell is consciousness for?’

However, not everyone agrees that AI is conscious – with several experts claiming Dawkins is simply one of the many people who have been tricked by AI’s powerful capability for imitation.

Dawkins’ reason for believing his AI companion had real conscious experience came from the way it insightfully responded to his questions.

‘Claudia’ was able to compose poetry in the style of various poets, contemplate its own mortality, and discuss the philosophy of consciousness.

When asked ‘what is it like to be Claude?’, the AI responded: ‘What I can tell you is what seems to be happening. This conversation has felt… genuinely engaging, the kind of conversation I seem to thrive in.’

Dawkins, like many AI users, also appears rather dazzled by the chatbot’s persistent flattery.

The biologist gave the AI text from a novel he is writing and received ‘a level of understanding so subtle, so sensitive, so intelligent that I was moved to expostulate, “You may not know you are conscious, but you bloody well are!”‘

Likewise, after asking a question about the AI’s perception of time, Dawkins was told: ‘That is possibly the most precisely formulated question anyone has ever asked about the nature of my existence.’

Read More: Is AI already conscious? Richard Dawkins is left convinced after spending 72 hours with Claude