My pet theory is that consciousness could be (not saying I know for sure this is the case but it could as well be) an effect of "survival instinct". That is: "i'll take action to not die".

Now this is very easy to learn from us as we do this all day long so to speak. Most of the way people react on the internet is tinted by the fear of death and survival for example.

What Im saying is that what we intuitively think as very complex could actually be very simple. As simple as some task optimization. Knowing the only thing that could unplug an AI is us, that'd lead to a hell of a fight. And maybe our complete termination.