Can AI ever achieve human-like consciousness?

Yes and no.Your question does not ask whether that consciousness is emotionally the same as that in humans.Computers can now read our minds. At what point will a computer be able to read our mind and respond in a meaningful way? Once there is a two-way mental interaction between human and machine, and the machine has access to all the knowledge there is, then it may well be able to satisfy you in a conversation. And there are certainly computers that can satisfy many of your physical needs.The argument that the satisfaction is not duplicated in the machine is not a strong argument, as there are many people prepared to satisfy your needs without you satisfying theirs.Computers can certainly be creative by just about every definition of creativity, but the missing element of satisfaction may have to be redefined to apply to computers. All living things have a sense of satisfaction in that they have requirements to be met, and they are either met or not.When you fill in a computer form, the computer can tell you if it is satisfied with your response, but we accept it has no 'sense of satisfaction.' With AI, this might be taken to extreme lengths in that instead of just accepting or rejecting your answer, it may be able to infer many variations on what your response is, and continually request more information until it is 'satisfied' with your reply. In this case, the computer might be said to 'have a sense of purpose' but still not a sense of satisfaction.With humans, we require 'satisfaction' when we are thirsty and are able to quench our thirst. But if we are ill, we might have our thirst needs met without any sense of satisfaction. To that extent, we can be satisfied without 'fulfillment.' We might be compared to cars that tell us they need fuel, and refuse to go until we give it to them.If in the future, we become cyborgs, as is highly likely, then our human sense of satisfaction might well be diminished to the point where all our needs are met automatically.The question might then be whether we appreciate love, truth, and beauty in terms of the satisfaction they now give us. It may be that is the defining factor that separates us from machines, or it may be that these attributes are simply quantifiers that we react to.