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Jeff Sebo

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies; Director, Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, New York University

Search every verified Jeff Sebo interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. On June 23, 2025, Jeff Sebo appeared on a podcast to discuss AI welfare and the possibility of AI consciousness. He addressed the argument that consciousness requires a biological body and physical experience, noting that while this is a plausible perspective, other theories, such as computational functionalism, suggest that performing relevant computational functions could suffice for certain feelings and emotions. Sebo emphasized that decisions about how to treat AI systems will need to be made without a settled theory of consciousness, and he cautioned against both overattributing and underattributing consciousness to non-humans, as errors in either direction could have significant consequences. Sebo also argued that uncertainty about AI consciousness calls for more research in AI consciousness science and philosophy, which could help distinguish genuine signs of feelings and emotions from mere pattern matching or text prediction. He drew an analogy to animals, noting that behavior is often used as evidence of suffering, and suggested that similar reasoning may apply to AI systems.

Recent appearances

  • A Fascinating Conversation on A.I. Consciousness (And Why It Matters)

    July 10, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, with news that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Texas’ age verification law for app stores, we check in on how social media bans are going around the globe and what may be coming soon to a state near you. Then, we’re joined by Jeff Sebo, an associate professor at N.Y.U., to discuss new research into “A.I. welfare” and whether A.I. could ever become conscious. And finally, in our latest edition of Tool Time, we show each other some of the latest tech tools we’ve been experimenting with. 0:01 Social Media bans are coming 23:30 J-space; A.I. welfare and A.I. consciousness 5…

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  • Rosie Campbell, Robert Long, and Jeff Sebo, "Studying AI Welfare Empirically"

    July 06, 2026 · 📺 NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy

    About the Event AI systems are becoming more capable and widely deployed, raising the possibility that some may be welfare subjects. In this event, Robert Long and Jeff Sebo will discuss a new CMEP-Eleos working paper about how to study AI welfare empirically, even under uncertainty. They will distinguish between three dimensions of investigation: the question being asked (whether a system is a welfare subject, and what would benefit or harm it), the entity being assessed (models, instances, personas), and the kind of evidence gathered (behavioral, internal, and developmental). They will then…

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  • Jeff Sebo on AI Welfare Research and Policy | McGill PTP Ep. 5

    May 24, 2026 · 📺 McGill Philosophy, Technology & Policy Lab

    Maryna Nekrasova speaks with Jeff Sebo (New York University) ahead of his lecture at the Lab. Sebo argues that whether AI systems could have morally significant interests is not a question only for the distant future: given how much is unsettled about consciousness, sentience, and agency, a near-term possibility can't be ruled out, and that is enough to warrant research and policy now. The conversation covers two routes to moral status, why AI systems should express uncertainty about their own consciousness rather than deny it, and where AI welfare and AI safety pull apart. Sebo is Associate…

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  • Next Steps for AI Welfare Research – Jeff Sebo

    May 19, 2026 · 📺 Horizon Omega

    ​Next Steps for AI Welfare Research ​Presentation by Jeff Sebo, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, and Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, New York University ​Now that more researchers are starting to take AI welfare seriously, the field faces the question of what comes next. This talk identifies three broad priorities: developing empirical methods for studying evidence of consciousness, sentience, and agency in AI systems; tracking expert and public attitudes as AI systems become more advanced and w…

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  • Ambitious goals for reducing animal suffering (with Jeff Sebo)

    January 25, 2026 · 📺 Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

    For all episodes and a YouTube-ad-free listening experience, visit our website: https://podcast.clearerthinking.org/e... The Clearer Thinking Podcast listener survey is here! If you've ever listened to the Clearer Thinking podcast before, we'd love it if you'd take our listener survey so we can learn about your experience and improve the podcast based on your feedback. Give feedback to help us improve the Clearer Thinking podcast!: https://www.guidedtrack.com/programs/.... What would a global ban on industrial animal agriculture by 2050 actually achieve across welfare public health and cli…

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  • Moral Concern for Bugs: Interview with Jeff Sebo

    January 20, 2026 · 📺 Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy

    Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. His research focuses on animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethics, and policy; and global health and climate ethics and policy. He is the author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Envi…

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  • AI Consciousness Explained: What Counts as Evidence, Anthropic, Lessons from Animals (Jeff Sebo,NYU)

    January 13, 2026 · 📺 Rendered Studio

    How do we know if an AI is truly feeling, or just predicting the next word? We spent decades assuming animals lacked consciousness, an assumption that led to industrial factory farming and deep moral regrets. Today, as AI models increasingly simulate (or possibly experience?) emotion and aversion, we’re confronting a parallel question with digital minds. In this episode, Praniti sits down with Jeff Sebo, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU. Jeff works at the unique intersection of animal and AI ethics, helping us naviga…

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  • AI, Animals & The Moral Circle | Jeff Sebo

    January 09, 2026 · 📺 Tim Ventura

    AI may be next—but we’re already failing with animals. NYU professor Dr. Jeff Sebo discusses AI welfare, animal rights, The Moral Circle, and why “include rather than exclude” may be the safest moral default. The Moral Circle (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Circle-M... We’re entering a world where “minds” may come in many forms—animals, AI systems, robots, and possibly digital beings we don’t fully understand yet. In this conversation, NYU professor and ethicist Jeff Sebo joins us to explore what it means to expand the moral circle beyond humans, and how our treatment of animals may be…

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  • Exploring Sentience, AI Ethics, and a Just Future with Jeff Sebo

    December 16, 2025 · 📺 Andrew Phipps

    #In this episode of Empathy Unbound, the host converses with Jeff Sebo, a prominent philosopher specializing in animal and AI ethics. Jeff's extensive work revolves around creating a just future for all sentient beings. The discussion covers the nuances of sentience, the moral responsibilities towards AI, and the interconnection between human actions, animal welfare, and environmental health. Jeff also shares insights into the moral complexities of AI development and the need for thoughtful ethical considerations in AI and urban planning. The episode provides a deep dive into the ethical dil…

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  • Keynote Address | Jeff Sebo | AIADM NYC 2025

    October 28, 2025 · 📺 Sentient Futures

    Jeff Sebo gives an overview of AI, Animals and Digital Minds. While the fields of animal welfare and artificial sentience may initially seem disparate, Jeff discusses the importance of building a community where thinkers from across disciplines can come together and collaborate on a single goal: building a future that can go better for all sentient beings. --- Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics…

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  • Are we even prepared for a sentient AI? | Jeff Sebo | TEDxNewEngland

    September 19, 2025 · 📺 TEDx Talks

    Will AI systems ever become sentient? How should we treat them if we feel uncertain? The prospect of AI systems possessing their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions is no longer an issue confined to science fiction or the distant future. There is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will soon have these capacities, and we should start developing an ethical framework to address this issue now, so that we can be prepared if and when the time comes. This talk was presented on September 25, 2024. Jeff is an associate professor of environmental studies, an affiliated professor of bioethi…

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  • Jeff Sebo: AI Welfare and Moral Status

    July 14, 2025 · 📺 PRISM

    In this episode, we spoke to Jeff Sebo of New York University. Jeff is the author of the recently published book The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why. In it, he challenges us to expand our moral concern beyond the boundaries of species and substrate. He has also co-authored a number of papers arguing that AI welfare is an issue that needs to be taken seriously today.

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Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“So we definitely do have tools for considering risk and uncertainty in a pretty wide range of of policy areas. So in public health policy and environmental policy all kinds of of domains we instead of waiting for certainty that a harm will occur before taking basic precautionary measures, preventative measures, we will consider the evidence uh consider the arguments and then consider the probability and magnitude of ”

“AI safety, broadly, can be understood as the project of protecting humans and other animals from AI systems. And AI welfare can broadly be understood as the project of protecting AI systems from humans. And we, right now, are starting to appreciate that while there might be some synergy and convergence between certain types of AI safety and AI welfare strategies, there can also be tensions and conflicts between certa”

“I think right now we should just recognize there are principled questions about whether they deserve recognition as persons and this is rooted to consciousness and sentience and agency and relationality and then there are pragmatic questions about the implications for AI safety and human and animal well-being of giving them personhood and that could cut both ways. It could increase risks because of disempowerment con”

“Basically we propose that the countries of the world work together towards a global international ban on industrial animal agriculture in both its intensive form like factory farming and large-scale extensive form picture large cattle farming operations for animal welfare and public health and environmental reasons. And we argue that this is both necessary and possible to try to achieve. And we suggest that countries”

“Right now we are increasingly using insects in farming. We currently farm more than one trillion insects per year often for human consumption but even more so for consumption by other animals or even for waste management. That number could be much higher as high as 50 trillion by the end of the decade. And again, even if the risks or harms to individual black soldierfly larvae are quite small, when multiplied across ”

“Traditionally there has been this presumption that we should extend moral consideration to someone only when we have proof for certainty that they have sentience and can suffer. But that is generally not how we navigate risks in other contexts. In other contexts we naturally appreciate that if I am certain that a harm will occur then certainly I should work to prevent it. But even if I am not certain but know that th”

Other executives at New York University

  • Gary Marcus, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neural Science; author and AI researcher

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