Ai vs AI: Do plants have feelings?

Ai Weiwei: All life forms have feelings, I think.

ChatGPT (AI), January 2024: Plants do not have feelings in the same way animals or humans do. While they respond to stimuli, it is not indicative of emotions. The debate on plant sentience is ongoing in scientific and philosophical circles.

ChatGPT (AI), January 2025: Plants don’t have feelings in the same way animals or humans do, as they lack nervous systems and brains, which are necessary for experiencing emotions or conscious awareness. However, plants do have remarkable ways of responding to their environment, and some of these responses might seem like they’re connected to emotions.

How Plants Respond to Stimuli:
Touch and Movement
Thigmotropism: Plants can respond to touch or physical stimuli. For example, vine plants like morning glories or tendrils of a pea plant will curl around objects they come into contact with. This helps them grow towards support.
Mimosa pudica (the sensitive plant) folds its leaves when touched. While this may look like a reaction to discomfort, it’s believed to be a defense mechanism against herbivores or environmental factors, not an emotional response.
Light and Gravity

Phototropism: Plants grow toward light, as they “sense” the direction of light using special proteins called photoreceptors. This isn’t an emotional reaction but a biochemical process that maximizes their ability to photosynthesize.
Gravitropism: Plants also respond to gravity by growing roots downward and stems upward, a process vital for survival.
Chemical Signaling

Stress Responses: Plants release chemical signals in response to stress, such as when they are under attack by herbivores or facing drought. For example, some plants emit chemicals to attract predators of herbivores or release compounds like jasmonic acid to signal distress.
Root Signaling: Plants can communicate through their roots and share nutrients or warnings with neighboring plants.
Memory and Learning?

There is some evidence to suggest that plants can “remember” certain stimuli. For example, in an experiment with the plant Arabidopsis, scientists found that it could “learn” to respond less dramatically to repeated mechanical stress, suggesting a form of non-neuronal memory. However, this is not “memory” in the way animals experience it, as it’s more about adaptive responses to repeated events.
Are These Responses “Feelings”?
While these reactions are sophisticated and adaptive, they don’t constitute conscious feelings. Emotions as we understand them—like pain, joy, or fear—require neural circuits and a central nervous system, which plants do not possess. Plants respond to their environment to survive and thrive, not because they “feel” in the way animals do.

Conclusion
Plants are highly responsive organisms, but they don’t have emotions or feelings as animals do. Their behaviors are driven by biochemical processes designed to maximize their chances of survival, rather than conscious experiences of pleasure or pain. Still, it’s a fascinating reminder of how life can adapt and respond to the environment in ways that seem almost “aware,” even without a brain!

DeepSeek (AI), January 2025: Plants do not have feelings in the way humans or animals do because they lack a nervous system, brain, and the biological structures required for experiencing emotions or pain. However, plants are incredibly complex organisms that respond to their environment in sophisticated ways. Here’s a breakdown of how plants interact with their surroundings:

How Plants Respond to Stimuli:

1. Tropisms: Plants can grow toward or away from stimuli, such as light (phototropism), gravity (gravitropism), or touch (thigmotropism).
   
2. Chemical Signaling: Plants release chemicals to communicate with other plants or organisms. For example, they can emit volatile organic compounds to warn nearby plants of herbivore attacks.
   
3. Defense Mechanisms: When damaged, some plants produce toxins or compounds to deter predators or heal themselves.
4. Root Communication: Research has shown that plant roots can detect and respond to changes in soil conditions, such as nutrient availability or the presence of neighboring plants.
   

Do Plants Feel Pain?:

– Plants do not have nociceptors (pain receptors) or a nervous system, so they cannot “feel” pain in the way animals do.
– While they respond to damage or stress, these reactions are biochemical and mechanical, not emotional.

The Debate on Plant “Intelligence”:
Some scientists argue that plants exhibit a form of “intelligence” because they can adapt to their environment, solve problems (e.g., finding resources), and communicate with other organisms. However, this is not the same as consciousness or feelings.

Conclusion
Plants are remarkable organisms with sophisticated ways of interacting with their environment, but they do not have feelings, emotions, or consciousness. Their responses are purely biological and evolutionary, aimed at survival and reproduction. While it’s fascinating to study their behaviors, attributing human-like feelings to plants is not supported by scientific evidence.

To coincide with the exhibition, 81 Questions – a series of 81 hand-signed and embossed screen prints featuring the 81 questions posed by Ai Weiwei – are available exclusively on CIRCA.ART for £500+VAT.

“Each Lego brick pixel represents a person”, says Ai Weiwei, who incorporates the plastic construction toy – a readymade material incorporated into many of his most recent works – into his print design for the first time. The black egalitarian pixel font and embossed baseplate combine technology with artisanal craft to create this thought-provoking and playful reflection on today’s world. Each print in the series of 81 Questions is hand-signed and numbered by the artist in editions of 81.