Thanks for this @elonmusk! Flagging that, to my knowledge, xAI is the only major AI company with no lines of communication open with @nonhumanminds, @eleosai, and other organizations that study and consult on this issue. We would be happy to chat with your team if you like!

Thrilled to share that @nonhumanminds is launching a digital minds research fund! It will provide small and seed funding for research that advances understanding of the nature and value of digital minds. The deadline is November 1. Please apply! nonhumanminds.org/digital-mi…

Additionally, @nonhumanminds has appointed @LedermanHarvey as our new research director! Harvey will work with me, Toni Sims, and our growing team to set research priorities and make funding decisions. Welcome to the team Harvey; excited to work with you :)

.@nonhumanminds is seeking a postdoctoral associate to support our research on digital minds! We have exciting projects underway on embodiment, individuation, personhood, research ethics, population ethics, and more. Please apply if you have interest! apply.interfolio.com/193635

Announcing the 2027 @nonhumanminds Summit! This event will connect experts across fields to discuss the consciousness, sentience, agency, moral status, legal status, and political status of nonhumans, especially animals and AI systems. The summit will include lightning talks, group discussions, breakout sessions, networking time, plus meals and receptions. Free for all accepted guests, with travel support available for some. You can submit an expression of interest below! nyu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/S…

I did an interview a couple of weeks ago about AI safety, AI welfare, animal welfare, and our work at @nonhumanminds. It took place before the AI safety discussion reached a fever pitch, but it may offer useful context on how these issues connect. humanarium.co/journal-jeff.h…

Some of us are working on fly ethics, but we need help! If you have interest in insect minds, or digital minds, or digital insect minds, please check out our work at @nonhumanminds 🙂

Reminder that our webinar with @AnthropicAI's @Jack_W_Lindsey and @eleosai's @patrickbutlin is today at 12pm ET! Come to see us determine once and for all whether Claude is conscious. Stay to see us decisively settle the great anthropomorphism wars of early September 2026.

Reminder: on Wednesday September 2 at 12pm ET, CMEP will host @AnthropicAI's @Jack_W_Lindsey and @eleosai's @patrickbutlin for a discussion about what Claude's J-space tells us about consciousness. Please join us if you have interest!

Thanks to @coeff_giving for supporting @nonhumanminds with $1.65M for our digital minds research and field-building, along with $77K for an animal welfare benchmark through our Welfare Alignment Project! Very excited for all the work this funding will make possible.

Please join us on September 2 for a webinar with @AnthropicAI's @Jack_W_Lindsey and @eleosai's @patrickbutlin about the J-space and consciousness! Following a conversation with @jeffrsebo, Jack and Patrick will take questions from the audience. RSVP 👇 nonhumanminds.org/event/what…

Announcing a research project on comparing animal and AI welfare! As a @nonhumanminds-@RethinkPriors collaboration within the Moral Weight Project 2.0, it will assess welfare intensity across species and substrates. Feel free to apply via @SPARexec! sparai.org/projects/f26/

1/ Really happy to launch the 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁, which I've been working on with @jeffrsebo and others at NYU's CMEP! We're releasing a 10-page brief on "Animal Welfare and AI Welfare: Candidate Commitments for Model Specs and Constitutions"! 🧵👇

1/ Today @nonhumanminds is launching the Welfare Alignment Project: a new effort to inform how AI alignment can take animal welfare and AI welfare seriously. 🧵👇 nonhumanminds.org/welfare-al…

Jeff Sebo keynotes the Digital Minds Research Sprint on Friday, Aug 14. Director of @NonhumanMinds at NYU, author of The Moral Circle. One weekend of empirical research on AI minds: linktr.ee/apartresearch

I spoke with Mariana Lenharo for this @Nature article on AI consciousness research. As I note here, AI companies will likely have mixed incentives about this topic. This is part of why we need a robust independent research field.