[sinuhe69]

No, it doesn't learn or evolve on its own, but rather through humans and a huge data-gathering and training loop. It's aware of the input, but anything resulting from it will be discarded by the next query or restart. Even with all the supporting systems, aka external memory, it can only access and retain an infinitesimally small amount of the information to which it was exposed — a shadow of a shadow of the things themselves.

If you argue that the entire system, including humans, is conscious, then that's a kind of tautology because humans are already conscious. If any, an LLM is only a partial reflection and low dimensional projection of this consciousness.