Should we worry about the possibility that AI could be conscious?
Speakers
Chair
Can software have subjective experiences? The rapid pace of progress in artificial intelligence has brought renewed interest to questions about what kinds of minds, if any, artificial systems could have, including questions about whether AI systems could be conscious—if not today, then in the perhaps not-too-distant future. In turn, the possibility that AI systems might be conscious may be thought to raise difficult ethical questions about their moral status.
Please join an expert panel of philosophers and neuroscientists to hear their views on whether there could be conscious experience in AI systems, how we might know, and the moral questions that arise as a result.
Meet our speakers and chair
Jonathan Birch is a Professor of Philosophy and Director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience within LSE’s Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. His research mainly focuses on animal sentience, cognition and welfare, and the evolution of altruism and social behaviour.
Patrick Butlin is a philosopher of mind and Senior Research Lead at Eleos AI Research, a non-profit research organisation studying the potential for consciousness and moral standing in AI systems. He has contributed to influential publications on AI consciousness and welfare, including as a lead author on the 2023 report Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness.
Megan Peters is a cognitive and computational neuroscientist working at the interface of psychology, AI, neuroscience, and philosophy. She is a professor at UCL, where she leads the Reflexion Lab – an interdisciplinary group studying how intelligent systems monitor and model their own knowledge, uncertainty, and experience. Her work uses tools from cognitive neuroscience, computational modeling, psychophysics, neuroimaging, and philosophy to reverse engineer these capacities.
Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and Director of the Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Program on Brain, Mind and Consciousness and a European Research Council Advanced Investigator. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize in 2023; in 2024 Prospect Magazine listed him as one of the Top 25 global thinkers, and in 2025 he won the Berggruen Essay Prize.
Andreas L Mogensen leads the Global Priorities Research Group at LSE and is an associate professorial research fellow at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science. His research has covered topics including evolutionary debunking arguments in ethics, effective altruism and the demands of beneficence, decision-making under deep uncertainty, and population ethics. His current research focuses on the potential for mind and moral standing in AI systems.
More about this event
Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.
The Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS) promotes research into philosophical, methodological and foundational questions arising in the natural and the social sciences.
This is the launch event for the newly established Global Priorities Research Group at CPNSS.
Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents
Any questions?
If you have a query see our Events FAQ or take a look at the information below.
You can also contact us at events@lse.ac.uk.
Many speakers at LSE events also write for LSE Blogs, which present research and critical commentary accessibly for a public audience. Follow LSE British Politics, LSE Business Review, LSE Impact, LSE European Politics and the LSE Review of Books to learn more about the debates our events series present.
If the event is live streamed, automated live captions will be available. Please note that this feature uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology, or machine generated transcription and is not 100% accurate.
Photographs are regularly taken at LSE events both by LSE staff and members of the media and events are routinely filmed. Photographs from events taken by LSE staff are often used on LSE's social media accounts, with videos being made available on the LSE Player. If you have any concerns about this please contact the event organiser in advance of the event.
Please contact the Press Office if you would like to request a press seat or have a media query about this event, email LSE.Press.Events@lse.ac.uk. Please note that press seats are usually allocated at least 24 hours before each event.
We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1 week after the event. Podcasts and videos of past events can be found online.
Event updates and other information about what’s happening at LSE can be found on our Facebook page and for live photos from events and around campus, follow us on Instagram.
Livestreams and archive videos of past lectures are shared on our YouTube channel while event podcasts can be found on the LSE Player.
Attending our events in-person or online? Join the conversation using #LSEEvents.
If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, as well as on accessibility and special requirements, please refer to LSE Events FAQ. LSE aims to ensure that people have equal access to these public events, but please contact the events organiser as far as possible in advance if you have any access requirements so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. If the event is ticketed, please ensure you get in touch in advance of the ticket release date. Access Guides to all our venues can be viewed online.
LSE has now introduced wireless for guests and visitors in association with 'The Cloud', also in use at many other locations across the UK. If you are on campus visiting for the day or attending a conference or event, you can connect your device to wireless. See more information and create an account at Join the Cloud.
Visitors from other participating institutions are encouraged to use eduroam. If you are having trouble connecting to eduroam, please contact your home institution for assistance.
The Cloud is only intended for guest and visitor access to wifi. Existing LSE staff and students are encouraged to use eduroam instead.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Subscribe to the LSE Events newsletter
