"I believe such plans start with the analogy that the brain is like a computer…and then try to build a computer that is like a brain. But consciousness has not been reduced to a brain function."

Indeed, and AI is not a computer. Neural networks are not computers. We only use computers because today we are _simulating_ neural networks. But the design of a neural network is not a software design.

Consciousness and intelligence are not related. Mice are not very intelligent, but I believe they are conscious. Today's AI systems demonstrate intelligence of various kinds, but they are not conscious. In fact, there is research that indicates that consciousness follows thought, and that our perception of a thought is actually our memory of the thought, which occurred milliseconds before (apart from our consciousness).