Is AI sentient? Professor breaks down the evidence around AI, plant, fish and insect sentience

Dr Jonathan Birch is a prize winning Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics (LSE). His research focuses on animal sentience, welfare, and ethics. He is also Director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, a new research centre based in LSE.

Dr Birch is an internationally respected philosopher and author of dozens of articles and two books, including 2025’s award winning book The Edge of Sentience. In 2021, he was the Principal Investigator of a review that led the UK to recognise cephalopods and decapod crustaceans as sentient. Jonathan’s work has been cited in several policies banning octopus farming. He is also a founding member of the Insect Welfare Research Society, a group of researchers working together to close gaps regarding evidence on insect welfare and sentience. 

In 2014, he received a Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises 'the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising'.

You can find more about Jonathan's work here:

- https://www.lse.ac.uk/people/jonathan-birch

- https://www.lse.ac.uk/sentience

Today's topics:

What is sentience? In today's podcast episode I chat with Dr Jonathan Birch, a prize-winning philosopher and expert on sentience. We discuss whether AI is or will ever be sentient, as well as whether plants, fish or insects are sentient.

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