Gaurav Babbar is a Senior Data & AI Analytics Consultant with over 25 years of enterprise experience across HSBC, Fitch Ratings, Vodafone, and leading financial institutions. Founder of MDR Solutions Ltd, specialising in Big Data, AI, and Generative AI consulting. S.K. Vaid is a researcher and co-author at the intersection of neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and artificial intelligence. Together they bring rare practical and theoretical depth to one of the most consequential questions of our time: can machines become conscious?