The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy recently hosted Cass Sunstein for a public talk on a bill of rights for animals. The recording is now online — feel free to share with anyone who may have interest! youtube.com/watch?v=P2Y16xw8sZ4&feature=youtu.be

Ann Linder, Colin Jerolmack, and I published a letter in Science about the importance of addressing industrial animal agriculture's public health impacts when developing a response to bird flu. (You can find it below the target article, as a response.)

1/ My TEDx talk “What Do We Owe AI?” is now live! AI is advancing fast, and our relationships with AI systems are changing too. Some think AI could soon be sentient and deserve care. Are they right? What if the only honest answer is: maybe? 🧵+🔗👇

good morning!

More NYT coverage of THE ARROGANT APE: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/b...

Journalists sometimes ask me to share insights about animal consciousness that have emerged since the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness in 2024. I would love to have answers for them, especially regarding non-invasive methods and research on positive welfare. Leads welcome!

1/ Thanks again to Eric and Walter for taking the time to engage with our books! In case anyone is interested, you can find my reply to Eric and Walter -- addressed directly to them, since it originated as an email -- in the next post. (I focus on their discussion of my book.)

new headshot

Planning to attend NeurIPS and interested in AI for animals? See below for a great opportunity!

New paper in draft, with Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, critiquing three recent books that address the moral standing of non-human animals and AI systems: @birchlse.bsky.social's The Edge of Sentience, @jeffsebo.bsky.social's The Moral Circle, and Webb Keane's Animals, Robots, Gods. 1/3

definitely important to grapple with AI rights *in addition* to human and animal rights, not *instead* of them. as it happens, many AI rights researchers, including me, started out as human and/or animal rights researchers, and we now work on all of these issues at the same time :)

Though I don’t think AI as it exists has moral standing, and I am skeptical that it will in the near future, I appreciate this take from @jeffsebo.bsky.social because I am concerned about how AI could train us to treat other actual intelligences:

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting a talk with @casssunstein.bsky.social titled "A Bill of Rights for Animals" on September 17 at 4pm ET! The talk will be in person and online, with a reception for in-person guests. Please join us! sites.google.com/nyu.edu/mind...

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting a talk with @casssunstein.bsky.social titled "A Bill of Rights for Animals" on September 17 at 4pm ET! The talk will be in person and online, with a reception for in-person guests. Please join us! sites.google.com/nyu.edu/mind...

Nice reporting!

I did a video interview with the @AP about the animal and environmental benefits of dark sky lighting for a story about the US Open! The video is part of the below story - I appear at about the 1:05 mark. apnews.com/article/us-o...

from the critique of animal testing in guardians of the galaxy 3 to the dog and squirrel and (attempted) space monster rescues in superman i am genuinely touched by how much @jamesgunn.bsky.social is doing to casually promote moral concern for nonhumans in major tentpole film franchises

Very excited for this event!

it will be an amazing plot twist when ticks, not humans or AI systems, end up saving the world

I am humbled to have received much praise for THE ARROGANT APE (Avery / Penguin Random House) out September 2. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717436/the-arrogant-ape-by-christine-webb

yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah

A short interview about The Moral Circle and my daily writing routine is up at the blog of the @apaphilosophy.bsky.social!

New interview on The Moral Circle with Devs and Vasile Stanescu at How We Win. Check it out!

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting a talk by Google researchers Winnie Street and Geoff Keeling on conceptual foundations for AI welfare! The talk will be August 20 at 12pm ET on Zoom. RSVP below. Hope to see you there!

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting a talk by Google researchers Winnie Street and Geoff Keeling on conceptual foundations for AI welfare! The talk will be August 20 at 12pm ET on Zoom. RSVP below. Hope to see you there!

𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀: 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 🌟 Over the next few days, you'll see our name and brand changing across all our platforms. Next week, we'll share more about why we're making this transition from AI for Animals --> Sentient Futures. For now, check out our new logo! 👀

Save the date - on 30 Sept we're opening The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience with a hybrid (online and in-person) event looking at how AI is already transforming the lives of other animals. Details: www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2025/...

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The Asian Journal of Philosophy is hosting a book symposium on The Moral Circle! 2-6k word submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and published commentaries will receive a response from me. If you read the book and have any thoughts at all, please consider sharing them!

The Asian Journal of Philosophy is hosting a book symposium on The Moral Circle! 2-6k word submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and published commentaries will receive a response from me. If you read the book and have any thoughts at all, please consider sharing them!

We had a great time at NYU's Wild Animal Welfare Summit last week, where Strategy Researcher @simonliedholm.bsky.social gave a lightning talk on wildlife contraception. Thanks so much for having us!

Another year, another wonderful Wild Animal Welfare Summit at NYU, with a terrific set of lightning talks, group discussions, breakout sessions, and vegan meals — along with one very attentive dog. Thanks so much to all who attended!

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting a panel on the Claude 4 model welfare assessments! Featuring Kyle Fish from Anthropic and Robert Long and Rosie Campbell from Eleos AI Research. July 25, noon ET, info and RSVP 👇 sites.google.com/nyu.edu/mind...

Southern Weekly (a major Chinese newspaper) has a nice article that discusses the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness and my @science.org perspective with @kristinandrews.bsky.social and @birchlse.bsky.social explaining the underlying scientific methodology. news.qq.com/rain/a/20250...

The Guardian has a piece about my new Centre with some lovely comments from longtime collaborators @jeffsebo.bsky.social and @kristinandrews.bsky.social. It follows the golden rule of animal minds journalism: emphasise the pet angle. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Happy publication day to Dean Spears and Michael Geruso! After the Spike makes a compelling case for policies that can protect the human population while respecting human rights. Highly recommended for anyone who cares about our future.

My new draft paper with @eschwitz.bsky.social is now online! We propose and explore the "emotional alignment design policy," which involves designing AI systems to elicit emotional reactions in users that reflect their capacities and moral status. Thread below; feedback welcome!

youtu.be/e9tidf3TLk0?... Excellent discussion... so many important points for our species to reflect upon. Thank you! (#sentientism #goVegan #vegan #compassion) #TheMoralCircle @sentientism.bsky.social @jeffsebo.bsky.social

nothing better than working on a holiday and watching your inbox steadily tick down because nobody else is replying to email right now 🇺🇸

Please listen and consider!

In The Moral Circle (2025), philosopher @jeffsebo.bsky.social calls for a revolution in ethics, arguing that we should expand our “moral circle” to include insects, AI systems, and microbes. intertwingled.org/the-moral-ci...

aging is best measured not in years but rather in what it takes to throw out your back. today i turned "taking a sip of water while standing perfectly still," please wish me a happy birthday!

In this new interview with Scott Jacobsen I explore whether AI systems might one day have their own feelings and emotions - and whether they should be classified as legal persons with legal rights.

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1/ How will society respond to the possibility of consciousness in AI systems? In our new open access @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social article, @luciuscaviola.bsky.social, @birchlse.bsky.social, and I look to the animal case for clues about what might lie ahead for AI systems. Short 🧵👇

This book review roundup includes a short review of The Moral Circle, calling it "a psychologically rich argument for moral imagination, asking readers to stretch their compassion in both personal and political ways." Nice to be included on a list of psychology books!

Just how big should "The Moral Circle" be? Animals, AIs, fungi, plants, microbes, electrons, people who annoy us on the internet? Come explore with philosopher @jeffsebo.bsky.social in his second appearance on the @sentientism.bsky.social YouTube and Podcast. Links below.

My second @sentientism.bsky.social interview is out! Thanks to @jamiewoodhouse.bsky.social for having me back to discuss The Moral Circle - as well as for giving me this awesome mug in London 🙂 You can watch the interview below, or listen elsewhere. Hope you enjoy! www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ti...

Great summary by @faunalytics.bsky.social of our recent paper on welfare risks for cephalopods and decapods faunalytics.org/seafood-anim...

Video on AI Welfare with Jeff Sebo @jeffsebo.bsky.social -he argues that there is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic in the near future. That means that the prospect of AI welfare and moral patienthood. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsq2...