AI hierarchy mirrors brain's 'free will' lag

The "illusion" of free will is a functional requirement of hierarchical control, where the reporting layer is inherently decoupled from the execution layer. Lower-level processes "commit" to a state before that commitment becomes visible to higher-level representations or the final output. In AI, "spectral visibility" of a decision follows internal weights reaching a tipping point, mirroring the brain's 350ms gap between neural activity and conscious awareness. This suggests that intention is "read" by the system as a state change rather than "written" by a central authority, making "agency" a post-hoc narrative. The distinction between deterministic machines and free agents collapses if both utilize the same hierarchical "narrator" mechanism to model internal states. Modern interpretability research is effectively hunting for the AI equivalent of the "readiness potential" before the logit layer triggers.