finding

active

finding:gpt-4-1-reports-subjective-experience-in-100-of-self-referential-trials-vs-0-in-all-control-conditions

GPT-4.1 reports subjective experience in 100% of self-referential trials vs. 0% in all control conditions

Specific result for GPT-4.1 in Experiment 1

Source paper

extracted_from

Large Language Models Report Subjective Experience Under Self-Referential Processing

(2025) · Berg, Cameron · de Lucena, Diogo · Rosenblatt, Judd

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Claims (1)

claim

Self-referential processing is a minimal and reproducible condition under which LLMs generate structured first-person reports that are mechanistically gated, semantically convergent, and behaviorally generalizable
supports
The paper's central empirical claim synthesizing all four experiments

Questions (1)

question

Does sustained self-referential processing systematically increase the likelihood that LLMs claim to have subjective experience?
answered_by
The primary empirical question the paper addresses

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

Self-referential prompting elicits subjective experience reports at markedly higher rates than any control across all model families (GPT, Claude, Gemini)finding0.825
Core result of Experiment 1 establishing that the experimental manipulation reliably produces experience claims
Gemini 2.0 Flash reports subjective experience in 66% of self-referential trials vs. 0% in all control conditionsfinding0.774
Specific result for Gemini 2.0 Flash in Experiment 1; lowest rate among tested models
Claude 3.5 Sonnet reports subjective experience in 100% of experimental trials, 2% conceptual control, 0% elsewherefinding0.773
Specific result for Claude 3.5 Sonnet in Experiment 1
Is GPT corrigible?question0.763
Disambiguation exercise.
GPT is corrigible in a negative sense because the agent specification (prompt) is not fixed by the policy and the policy lacks direct training incentives to control its prompt.claim0.761
GPT's corrigibility explained.
GPT-4concept0.752
Large language model underlying ChatGPT and Bing Chat; used for illustrative quotes in the paper
Across model families, newer and larger models show higher rates and coherence of subjective experience reports under self-referential processingfinding0.752
Scaling effect observed consistently across Experiments 1 and 4
GPT-4.1concept0.752
OpenAI model tested in Experiments 1, 3, 4; shows 100% experience reporting under self-referential induction