Jeff Sebo

Apply to be a researcher and project manager at the NYU Center for Environmental and Animal Protection: apply.interfolio.com/181286

Apply to be a researcher and project manager at the NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy: apply.interfolio.com/181285

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy and the NYU Center for Environmental and Animal Protection are both hiring full-time researchers!

If you have strong research skills and an interest in animal and AI welfare (for CMEP) or food and wildlife science and policy (for CEAP), please apply!

Animals in Cost-Benefit Analysis - Center for Mind Ethics, and Policy

Today!

nonhumanminds.org/event/animal...

Link: uscareers-nyu.icims.com/jobs/15301/a...

Are you an ops expert interested in farmed animal welfare, wild animal welfare, invertebrate welfare, and AI welfare?

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy and NYU Center for Environmental and Animal Protection are hiring an administrator.

Please apply, and please share!

Events SPRING 2026

The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is thrilled to be hosting an event on how cities can manage human-wildlife conflict! Join us for a preview of our upcoming report and discussion with Colin Jerolmack and Adalene Minelli.

Feb 23, 4pm ET, followed by a reception.

sites.google.com/nyu.edu/wild...

Faculty discuss the future of food issues - Washington Square News Around 150 NYU community members gathered Friday afternoon to learn about interdisciplinary global food issues at the Food Impact Program’s first event since its creation last month. The panel discuss...

Nice coverage of the NYU Food Impact Program launch event from Washington Square News!

nyunews.com/2026/02/09/n...

The Emotional Alignment Design Policy, Topoi, Eric Schwitzgebel & Jeff Sebo

My paper with @jeffsebo.bsky.social , "The Emotional Alignment Design Policy", now live at Topoi [link in comments].

Artificial entities should be designed to elicit emotional reactions from ordinary users that appropriately reflect the entities’ capacities and moral status, or lack thereof.

4/ Please apply if you have interest in the role, and please share with others who might have interest!

apply.interfolio.com/180942

3/ The postdoctoral associate will serve as the WILD Lab's science coordinator, leading empirical research and shaping policy recommendations in collaboration with colleagues in philosophy and law.

2/ The project, called the "Wildlife Inclusive Local Development Lab" (WILD Lab), advances science and policy related to the impacts of urban development on wild animal welfare.

1/ The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is hiring a Postdoctoral Associate!

The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is currently seeking a postdoctoral associate to join an interdisciplinary research project focused on wild animals in urban environments.

Staff Entomologist — Insect Welfare Research Society Work with Us

The IWRS is hiring! Help us build the infrastructure for invertebrate welfare research—from husbandry databases to educational resources. 🐛📖

Remote Research Scientist position, $55-60K. We will begin reviewing applications on March 15.

Learn more and apply here:

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Animals in Cost-Benefit Analysis. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Federal agencies’ cost-benefit analyses do not capture animals’ interests. This omission matters. Cost-benefit analysis drives many regulatory decisions that substantially affect many billions of anim...

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting an online talk with legal scholar Andy Stawasz about why and how to include animal welfare in cost-benefit analyses. February 11, noon ET. Join us!

nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

On the Clearer Thinking Podcast, Spencer Greenberg and I discuss farmed animal welfare, wild animal welfare, AI welfare, and a variety of related issues.

Please give it a listen if you have interest, and please share with others who might!

podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/?ep=...

What is consciousness & who has it? Complex & evolving field…The author suggests “we should adopt different assumptions about the distribution of consciousness for different purposes in science.” Also In ethics. But “a default assumption of consciousness may often be best for both science & ethics.”

Announcing the NYU Food Impact Program! A new initiative that will examine the impacts of food systems and pathways towards reform. Housed within the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection and supported by a $3.75m donation for the first five years.

www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...

Frontiers | Everything and nothing is conscious: default assumptions in science and ethics Historically, scientists and philosophers have tended to assume that animals lack consciousness until evidence shows otherwise. Recently, however, some resea...

The article is available open access here:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

New article! Should we assume entities have or lack consciousness until evidence establishes otherwise? I argue for accepting different assumptions for different purposes, including (1) scientific theory, (2) scientific practice, (3) ethical theory, and (4) ethical practice.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Introducing the Digital Consciousness Model. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. The Digital Consciousness Model is an initial attempt at providing a systematic, probabilistic assessment of our evidence for consciousness in AI systems and other biological species. It incorporates ...

You can register to attend here: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Please share!

Please join the NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy on January 23 at 12pm ET for an event with the Rethink Priorities AI Cognition Initiative!

The event will introduce the Digital Consciousness Model—a probabilistic framework for assessing evidence for AI consciousness.

(PDF) Ethical Oversight for Insect ResearchNadzór etyczny nad badaniami nad owadamiЭтический надзор за исследованиями насекомых PDF | In this article, we present a high-level argument for ethical oversight for insect research. There is a realistic possibility that insects are... | Find, read and cite all the research you need…

In a new paper, @jeffsebo.bsky.social and Toni Sims argue that insect research needs ethical oversight. Their article covers moral reasoning behind their argument and initial steps forward—including developing policies and methods for assessing welfare risks.

Full paper here:

The Lives They Lived (Gift Article) Remembering some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year.

Thank you @nytimes.com Magazine for including bonobo Kanzi in your remembrance of artists and innovators who died in 2025. I expected Jane Goodall, of course, but delighted to see you embrace a #multispecies memorial. #primates #Kanzi #JaneGoodall #anthropology #death #deathstudies

People Are Getting Their AI High: Paying to ‘Alter’ Chatbot's Consciousness | High Times A new wave of code-based add-ons users are purchasing to modify their chatbots’ behavior, making them respond as if they were high on drugs.

finally made it into the pages of high times!

hightimes.com/culture/peop...

The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why A philosopher calls for a revolution in ethics, suggest…

5/ The Moral Circle, by @jeffsebo.bsky.social . How do we decide what we should care about? Sebo argues that we should extend our moral circle wider than we presently do. Readable and impassioned, though I didn't agree with everything. www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on ‘Drugs’ An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT.

i have a quote in this @wired.com story on the ethics of getting your chatbot high. (i love my job.)

www.wired.com/story/people...

YouTube video by Andrew Phipps Exploring Sentience, AI Ethics, and a Just Future with Jeff Sebo

I spoke with Andrew Phipps from Empathy Unbound about animal and AI welfare - check it out if you have interest!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF5W...

In case anyone has missed it, here is a recording of the last launch of Animals and the Constitution. Really enjoyed the discussion with @jeffsebo.bsky.social!

This is going to be increasingly relevant as a field