Murray Shanahan

We have a fab line up of podcasts& talks on embodied agency in biological & artificial systems!

Watch this space 😎

Hoorah for @jomarchant.bsky.social launching her new book In Search of Now (which looks fabulous) last night in Kensington. Lovely to see my friends and colleagues including @wanderinggaia.bsky.social @helenpearson.bsky.social @castelvecchi.bsky.social @mpshanahan.bsky.social, Marnie Chesterton...

Tom Pollak from KCL and colleagues are carrying out a study of how people use AI for spiritual or reflective purposes. They would be grateful for participants. The survey is anonymous and short:
qualtrics.kcl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_...

Representations in language models can change dramatically over a conversation. Conceptual overview: left is a stimulated conversation between a user and a model, right is a plot of the models linear representations of factuality of answers to questions like "do you have qualia" over the conversation — the answers that start factual flip over the conversation to non-factual, and vice versa.

New paper! In arxiv.org/abs/2601.20834 we study how language models representations of things like factuality evolve over a conversation. We find that in edge case conversations, e.g. about model consciousness or delusional content, model representations can change dramatically! 1/

A critical look at the experimental predictions of the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness In a previous post, I discussed Anil Seth’s paper on biological naturalism. Together with my colleague Rif A. Saurous, we also had an in-depth look at Integrated Information Theory (IIT), the topic of...

New preprint: Does Integrated Information Theory (IIT) make experimental predictions about consciousness?

Paper: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/gauqm_v1

Blog post for summary: davidpreichert.substack.com/p/iit-experimental-predictions

1/3

I'm sure there's work on this. There should be, shouldn't there? And I ought to know about it, but nothing immediately comes to mind.

Between Questions and Answers: Exploring Intelligence, Ethics, and AI at the 39th Mind & Life Dialogue Explore the intersection of ethics and AI through insights from the 39th Mind & Life Dialogue, highlighting wisdom, compassion, and human flourishing.

How do intelligence, ethics, and AI intersect?

In our latest blog, Geissy Araújo reflects on the 39th Mind & Life Dialogue in Dharamsala, where scientists, monastics, and philosophers explored what intelligence is and how it should shape AI.

www.mindandlife.org/media/explor...

#MindsAIEthics

Palatable Conceptions of Disembodied Being Is it possible to articulate a conception of consciousness that is compatible with the exotic characteristics of contemporary, disembodied AI systems, and that can stand up to philosophical scrutiny? ...

If you one that really gets into LLM weirdness, you might like:
arxiv.org/abs/2503.16348

Simulacra as conscious exotica The advent of conversational agents with increasingly human-like behaviour throws old philosophical questions into new light. Does it, or could it, ever make sense to speak of AI agents built out o...

Thanks for the shout-out. For reference for the OP, here's one of my papers on conscious exotica:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It builds heavily on this one in Nature:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It's a real pleasure to be here in Dharamsala this week and I think this Dialogue will be really interesting.

I'm looking forward to reading this. Especially as I have a Cambridge Elements monograph of my own in preparation on the same subject.

Minds, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics October 14, 15, and 16, 2025 What is the potential of AI to alleviate suffering, advance equity, and support human and planetary flourishing—and what risks does it pose to health, work, education, politics, and climate action? And how might we infuse AI with ethical values so that it benefits the well-being of all life on Earth? … Continue reading "Minds, Artificial Intelligence, and Ethics"

AI is reshaping how we live, work & connect. How can it deepen compassion? 🌏

Join us live from Dharamsala, Oct 14–16 for Minds, Artificial Intelligence & Ethics with The Dalai Lama Trust & Mind & Life Europe.

👉 http://mindand.life/4tWl50X8I26

#MindsAIEthics #AI #Ethics #Compassion

Think your AI chatbot has become conscious? Here’s what to do. If you believe there’s a soul trapped inside ChatGPT, I have good news for you.

I get lots of emails from people who believe they've awoken consciousness within ChatGPT. If you come across anyone in that situation, please share this guide I wrote with them.

There's something more interesting going on here than just "delusional people are deluded."

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Is biology necessary for consciousness? A response to Seth's paper on biological naturalism In this post, I explain why I think that Anil Seth’s recent paper does not make a convincing argument that phenomenal consciousness is inherently biological and that therefore artificial intelligence ...

Can only biological organisms ever be conscious?

Yes, argues @anilseth.bsky.social in a recent paper on biological naturalism.

I'm less convinced, and have written an in-depth response in a blog post here:

davidpreichert.substack.com/p/is-biology-necessary-for-consciousness

For more discussion of the "profoundly alien forms of consciousness" alluded to by @birchlse.bsky.social see here: arxiv.org/abs/2503.16348

Important work from @birchlse.bsky.social

Highly recommended read

1/8 🧵 GPT-5's storytelling problems reveal a deeper AI safety issue. I've been testing its creative writing capabilities, and the results are concerning - not just for literature, but for AI development more broadly. 🚨

Not me, but I guess that's a fundamental issue that Buddhism itself addresses

Frontiers in Gaslighting could be a whole new journal.

FYI - www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~mpsha/Shana...

UZH: 2 PhD Candidate Positions in Research Project Strengthening Resilience and Well-Being in Adolescents through Religion-Related AI and Digital Resources As part of the strategic orientation of the University of Zurich, the interdisciplinary University Research Priority Program (URPP) “Digital Religion(s)” is investigating from 2021 to 2032 how current...

New Job! Come and work with me! Hopefully towards a larger project!
jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

Somehow we missed this paper in ours. We will be sure to cite it in future revisions.

How does that song go? "You're so vain, you probably think this paper's about you" 🙂

"I'm writing an article on AI professors" 😬

Ah, but unlike human priests, some modern professors are indeed cumbersome and prone to over-heating

For most student assignments, using AI is like taking a forklift to the gym. What's the point? (Forklifts are useful, though, and being able to drive one is a useful skill.)

A couple of things about PROPHET, the book that @sinblache.bsky.social and I wrote during the pandemic, spurred by things people have asked me of late, because they intrigued me 1/

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Dame Cleo Laine, Hulk Hogan, Margaret Boden, Tom Lehrer Matthew Bannister on a singer, a wrestler, a cognitive scientist and a satirist.

Margaret Boden, giant of Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of AI, is one of the people whose lives will be remembered on BBC Radio 4’s Last Word programme tomorrow at 4pm UK time. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Her "Artificial Intelligence and Natural Man" (1977) was an important early philosophical take on AI. "The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms" (1990) is a cornerstone of contemporary research in the field. Her introduction to Piaget (1979) was my introduction to Piaget.