Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc, has shared a thoughtful reflection on the deeper questions surrounding artificial intelligence, arguing that the conversation about AI must move beyond intelligence alone and confront the more fundamental issue of consciousness.
In a recent commentary, Eniolorunda noted that discussions about AI typically centre on whether machines will outperform humans, automate work or transform industries. While important, he said these debates often overlook a more profound underlying question: what consciousness actually requires.
“If consciousness depends on biological matter, then no matter how intelligent AI becomes, it will never be conscious,” Eniolorunda wrote. “But if consciousness depends on architecture, then biology may not be the decisive factor at all.”
He observed that current AI systems already demonstrate several capabilities associated with conscious processes. They can retain information during an interaction, reason across that information and adjust future responses based on previous context.
What they largely lack, he said, is continuous long-term identity, persistent autobiographical memory and genuinely intrinsic goals that exist independently of user prompts.
Those differences, according to Eniolorunda, appear more like engineering gaps than conceptual barriers. He was careful to stress that this does not mean today’s AI is conscious, and cautioned against casually making such claims.
Instead, he urged greater precision: if consciousness is understood as architectural, society should clearly identify which elements are still missing rather than treating the entire question as unknowable.
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“Whether this model turns out to be right or wrong, AI is forcing us to become much more precise about concepts we’ve historically been comfortable leaving vague,” he said. “In trying to understand machines, we may end up understanding ourselves much better.”
Eniolorunda indicated that his reflections on AI had ultimately drawn him back to questions about the human mind itself — particularly why the human emotional system functions the way it does — a topic he said he would explore further in a future discussion.
The Moniepoint CEO’s comments add a distinctive African technology-leader perspective to the global conversation on artificial intelligence, consciousness and the evolving relationship between humans and machines.
