Welcome to "AI and Consciousness," where we're tackling the latest in AI breakthroughs and controversies. Our top story: AI hallucinations. Chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok are generating convincing but false information, creating a trust crisis that even the UK police have had to address. But it's not all doom and gloom. We're also seeing incredible advancements. DeepMind's AlphaCode is showing a leap in creativity by generating new video games, while researchers are making models more efficient with new pruning techniques. Finally, we explore AI's real-world impact—from helping with Australia's housing crisis to raising new ethical debates around data privacy and safety.