What is the alternative to that statement?
Our consciousness could be "in the cloud"
On several occasions I've had people say they can prove consciousness is in the brain by saying that removing such and such part of the brain changes a person's emotions and thoughts.
My reply is always the same "If I removed parts from a radio receiver it wouldn't be able to pick up the signal as well"
The notion that consciousness is in the cloud is at least as plausible that consciousness resides wholly in the brain
Well, no. Because there is no evidence of a "central consciousness cloud" and no evidence of a communication mechanism to that cloud.
Like in Shakespeare's Hamlet: «To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come...». Afterlife as "plausible" - a critical suspect.
Note that in the history of 'plausible', it was also used for "nonsense, sophism, manipulation that rubes would applaud" (as opposed to "not only apparently" 'true') - the adoption was extensive (as opposed to, say, "what a sensible one would applaud") in its legitimate coverage. It has not been restricted de facto, as it may not de jure.
I'd be astonished if that statement were correct. For it to be a viable hypothesis it must at least begin to explain how the memories of my school graduation and the joy I felt are stored in the brain. But scientists like John Searle are dismissive of "wild ideas" and say consciousness is just a biological process in the brain, as he does at the beginning of this lecture [1]. Ok, I guess that settles it.
I'm going to assume AGI means human-like general intelligence, but emotional intelligence plays a large role in human intelligence. I'm surprised this isn't talked about more since we were all raised on Star Trek's Spock emotionless self and especially Data, trying to find the emotion chip so he can finally be human.
[1] Consciousness as a Problem in Philosophy & Neurobiology (John Searle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot4z1UrPvZY