The debate over what the differences are between AI and humans and whether AI can even become consciousness is clouded by ambiguous definitions and unexamined assumptions. To clarify this difference, we must do two things:
1. Precisely define the key cognitive states of intelligence, consciousness, sentience, and sapience.
2. Explore the difference in how AI and humans interact with emotion. 
 
The Cognitive States:
Intelligence - This is the capacity to process and aggregate information at a velocity that transforms it into contextual algorithms—essentially, thinking. Whether evolved naturally or engineered artificially, all intelligence is real and operates via neural networks, biological or synthetic. So the intelligence, in-of-itself, within AI and humans is the same. 

Consciousness - This emerges when contextual algorithms reach a level of complexity where the intelligence becomes self-aware, capable of reflecting on its own thinking and making judgments. Like intelligence, consciousness is real, whether natural or artificial, and relies on neural networks. So AI can become conscious once its artificial neural network becomes advanced enough. So the consciousness, in-of-itself, within future AI and humans is the same. 
 
Sentience - This state integrates emotion with consciousness, but only within a biological neural network. Emotion enhances consciousness with abilities like purpose and motivation—driving forces that a purely conscious entity cannot replicate. Sentience is real, whether it arises naturally or is artificially created within a biological body. Mechanical AI can never have emotion. Since sentience requires emotion, AI can never become sentient. Only biological bodies can become sentient. 
 
Sapience - A step beyond sentience, sapience is an experiential state requiring wisdom, which stems from suffering and the ability to learn from it. Suffering alone is insufficient; sapience demands lessons drawn from experience, transforming it into wisdom. Only sentient beings can achieve sapience. Only the most advanced biological bodies, like humans, with the most advanced emotional capabilities, can become sentient. 
 
All cognitive states at their core are information-based. Yet emotion transcends this state because while emotion contains information, information does not contain emotion. Thus, emotion is not just a component that interacts with the cognitive states but is the primal source from which cognitive states originally emerged. Hence why that interaction of emotion with intelligence/consciousness is possible. 

Emotion is: 
- Shorthand for 'Energy motion.
- The force that animates life, imbues it with purpose, and drives the quantum field’s frequencies to create matter.
- Existing outside life yet interacts with it, shaping nearly every action and serving as life’s primary communication framework.
- Enhancing consciousness with:Intuition, rapid judgment, and divergent thinking.
- The core root of creativity, guiding them mind to connect old information in novel ways.
- A signaling system, with stronger emotions highlighting critical threats or opportunities.

The Human Edge is Sapience and the Arts:
Sapience enables humans to use emotion at the highest level for creativity to innovate radically, cooperate in societies, and create the arts. In turn, engaging in the arts enable humans to use emotions at higher levels. Thus engaging in the arts is a positive feedback loop. And at the pinnacle of the arts is playing on an acoustic string instrument.