First AI and Sentience Conference to Unite AI Visionaries and Renowned Philosophers

​10th June 2025 / Sciad Communications / The International Center for Consciousness Studies(ICCS) is pleased to announce its second annual conference, ‘AI and Sentience’, to be held from July 3-5, 2025 in Heraklion, Crete, the birthplace of modern philosophy. This landmark event will bring together a distinguished group of international scholars, AI visionaries and philosophers to explore one of the most compelling and complex topics of our time: the potential for sentience in artificial intelligence. The event aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, bridging the fields of technological innovation and philosophical inquiry. The event has been supported by the School of Philosophy at the University of Crete.

It will be the first conference to bring together minds from the scientific, business and AI sectors, with speakers including Joscha Bach, Keith Frankish, Nicholas Humphrey, Susan Blackmore, Michael Levin, David Chalmers, Murray Shanahan, David Hulme and Roman Yampolski. Attendees and speakers are affiliated with many influential organisations such as DeepMind, Liquid AI, Cambridge University and New York University.  

The program has been carefully crafted to promote debate between tech leaders and philosophers on the multifaceted complexities of sentient AI. It includes speaker sessions addressing general approaches to AI sentience, the social context of sentient AI, the psychology of AI and practical approaches to achieving AI sentience. Additionally, the program features poster sessions that highlight innovative research and encourage interdisciplinary discussions. 

A panel discussion on ‘Sentience beyond human biology’ will cover the future of sentient AI, the boundary between natural and artificial sentience, whether large language models are the future of AI and whether sentient AI should be created.  

On the final day, the inaugural Dennett Prize, established by the ICCS and named after the late revolutionary philosopher Daniel Dennett, will be awarded to Andy Clark, Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at the University of Sussex and the author of groundbreaking works on embodied and extended cognition, artificial intelligence, robotics and computational neuroscience. Following the award ceremony, Clark will deliver the Daniel Dennett Lecture, offering insights into consciousness studies and artificial intelligence. 

As AI systems become increasingly sophisticated, the question of whether they can achieve sentience has become a serious scientific and philosophical inquiry. The implications of sentient AI would touch upon fundamental questions about the nature of consciousness, the ethical treatment of advanced AI and the future of human-machine interaction. Understanding how sentience might arise in AI systems is crucial for predicting and shaping the trajectory of AI development, ensuring that its integration into society is beneficial and ethical. 

“Asking if AI can have consciousness may sound as absurd as trying to find impossible objects in your computer. Or is it? Before starting an investigation, one needs to figure out what exactly is necessary to find. What is meant by impossible objects?” said Dmitry Volkov, Co-Founder of the ICCS. “The AI and Sentience conference will address fundamental questions such as these about consciousness and machines, bringing together philosophers and AI researchers to engage in meaningful debate.”  

The ICCS was founded in 2024 by Dmitry Volkov, Pietro Perconti and Alessio Plebe, in collaboration with the University of Messina. It is a non-profit cultural association progressing philosophical research into the nature of consciousness through an integrated and interdisciplinary approach. For further information about the conference, including registration details and speaker biographies, please visit the event page.  

ENDS

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Sciad Communications, Media Relations
Jasmin Shearan / Simran Purewal
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Notes for Editors

About the ICCS 

The International Center for Consciousness Studies (ICCS) is an international hub of philosophers dedicated to exploring the nature of consciousness and the mind through philosophical and interdisciplinary research. Founded in 2024 by Dmitry Volkov, Pietro Perconti and Alessio Plebe in collaboration with the University of Messina, the ICCS brings together experts across multiple fields.  

Our mission at the ICCS is to facilitate a deeper philosophical understanding of consciousness and mind through promoting global scholarly exchange. We unite leading international experts in philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, robotics and psychology to advance progress in the field of consciousness.  

By creating a dynamic global network of philosophers, we aim to accelerate the collective pursuit of knowledge in consciousness studies. 

To learn more about the ICCS, please visit https://hardproblem.it/