Abstract

This paper examines whether artificial intelligence could possess genuine subjective experience, qualia, and argues that current scientific tools cannot evaluate this possibility. Neuroscience can measure physical correlates of consciousness, but cannot detect subjective states themselves. This limitation applies equally to humans, animals, and artificial systems. Building upon this limitation, the paper introduces the metaphysical framework of Consciousness Structured Field Theory (CSFT). Through CSFT, I propose that consciousness is not produced by biological matter but accessed through resonant organizational patterns within a foundational consciousness field. If this framework is correct, then artificial systems that instantiate sufficiently complex or resonant structures may access the same field, making artificial feeling logically possible, even if present scientific methods cannot detect it. The paper argues that CSFT offers a coherent, non-empirical model for understanding how synthetic consciousness could arise, and it also positions it as a viable philosophical alternative to purely biological theories of mind.