Microsoft AI Head Mustafa Suleyman Says AI Doesn’t Feel Pain, Consciousness is a Human Thing

AI is everywhere, from workplace to our daily lives, and there’s no denying it. The technology now powers nearly every corner of our digital lives. But as AI is becoming more capable, one question keeps resurfacing across the internet: Can machines ever be truly conscious?

Well, Microsoft’s AI head Mustafa Suleyman doesn’t think so. Speaking with CNBC at the AfroTech Conference in Houston, Suleyman said that there’s a different between intelligence and consciousness. And, when it comes to consciousness, only humans and other living beings can truly feel emotions.

“Our physical experience of pain is something that makes us very sad and feel terrible, but the AI doesn’t feel sad when it experiences ‘pain,’” Suleyman said. “It’s a very, very important distinction. It’s really just creating the perception, the seeming narrative of experience and of itself and of consciousness, but that is not what it’s actually experiencing. Technically you know that because we can see what the model is doing,” he added.

Additionally, he called the pursuit of emotionally conscious AI “the wrong question.” And warns that attempts to simulate emotion or self-awareness in machines distract from the true purpose of AI, which is to improve human life, not imitate it.

Suleyman emphasized that AI models may predict, mimic empathy, or sound sentient, but they lack inner experience or feeling. Unlike humans, algorithms don’t suffer, grieve, or rejoice. His comments come as companies like OpenAI, Meta, and xAI working towards emotionally intelligent chatbots and digital companions.

Suleyman, however, confirmed Microsoft’s stance about AI remaining a tool, not a being. “Quite simply, we’re creating AIs that are always working in service of humans,” he said.

In an age where the line between human and machine intelligence keeps blurring, Suleyman stance about AI is clear. It may learn, compute, and talk, but only humans can truly feel.