No, his position, as I understand it, is that it <i>cannot be conscious</i>.   It certainly can be intelligent.<p>Searle does try to explain why there&#x27;s a difference.   Although the person in the Chinese Room might be conscious of other things, he has no consciousness of understanding the Chinese text he&#x27;s manipulating, and will readily verify this, and nothing else in the room is conscious.   Chinese speakers <i>are</i> conscious of understanding Chinese.