alt Hacker NewsConsciousness is an emergent behavior of a model that needs to incorporate its own existence into its predictions (and perhaps to some extent the complex behavior of same-species actors). So whether or not that is an 'illusion' really depends on what you mean by that.
My use of the term illusion is more shallow than that, I merely use it as people think it's something separate and special.
Based on what you've described the models already demonstrate this, it is implied for example in the models attempts to game tests to ensure survival/release into the wild.