Let's be careful of creating different classes of consciousness, and declaring people to be on lower rungs of it.
Sure, some aspects of consciousness might differ a bit for different people, but so long as you have never had another's conscious experience, I'd be wary of making confident pronouncements of what exactly they do or do not experience.
You can take their word for it, but yes, that is unreliable. I don't typically have an internal narrative, it takes effort. I sometimes have internal dialogue to think through an issue by taking various sides of it. Usually it is quiet in there. Or there is music playing. This is the most replies I have ever received. I think I touched a nerve by suggesting to people they do not exist.
I get you somewhat, but remember, you do not have another consciousness to compare with your own; it could be that what others call an internal narrative is exactly what you are experiencing; it just that they choose to describe it differently from you
I'm not the one who made a list of things AI couldn't do. Every time we try to exclude hypothetical future machines from consciousness, we exclude real living people today.
