Conscium webinar to debate "Can We Make AIs Sentient — and Should We?" with Solms and Humphrey
cccalum · x · 2026-10-31
Conscium is hosting a 45-minute online debate on 3 November to mark the publication of "Perspectives on Machine Consciousness": can we make AIs sentient, and should we?
- Mark Solms (University of Cape Town) argues consciousness is rooted in feeling generated in the brainstem, and is building artificial agents driven by homeostatic needs via Karl Friston's free energy principle.
- Nick Humphrey (Cambridge) places phenomenal consciousness in the cortex, restricted to social animals with a developed sense of self.
Poster Calum Chace argues we don't understand how sentience arises in animals, don't know whether AIs are sentient today, and need to accelerate this understanding urgently.
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