> You’re conflating consciousness with intelligence. Consciousness is subjective experience

Indeed. Thinking is not the same as experiencing thinking.

> there’s no way to know if any other people, much less machines, are conscious.

Or even ourselves :D

"Consciousness is just an illusion" "If so, who's experiencing the illusion?" "Yes"

That doesn't mean we can't simulate it, though. Name an attribute of consciousness, and we can (or will soon be able to) simulate it.