Research Focus Overview
The Center for the Future of AI, Mind & Society (AIMS) is a multi-disciplinary hub where thought leaders in philosophy, complex systems, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, political science, and other fields come together to analyze vital scientific, societal, and ethical issues.

Location: Florida, USA.
Website:

People

• Susan Schneider, Director

• Garrett Mindt, Program Director: Future of Consciousness Initiative

Full staff listing.

Selected Research

• Schneider, S. (2025). Chatbot Epistemology. Social Epistemology, 39(5), 570–589. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2025.2500030

Public Engagement

• Mindfest 2025 recordings.

• Video and podcast recordings.
  

Research Focus Overview
The Graziano lab focuses on a mechanistic theory of consciousness, the Attention Schema Theory (AST). The theory seeks to explain how an information-processing machine such as the brain can insist it has consciousness, describe consciousness in the magicalist ways that people often do, assign a high degree of confidence to those assertions, and attribute a similar property of consciousness to others in a social context. AST is about how the brain builds informational models of self and of others, and how those models create physically incoherent intuitions about a semi-magical mind, while at the same time serving specific, adaptive, cognitive uses.

Website: https://grazianolab.princeton.edu/

Selected Research

• Graziano, M. S. (2017). The attention schema theory: A foundation for engineering artificial consciousness. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 4, 60. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2017.00060/full
  

Research Focus Overview
New York City, USA. The Center is dedicated to exploring the fundamental issues in the mind–brain sciences through a deeply interdisciplinary lens, incorporating philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, and other fields.

Website: https://wp.nyu.edu/consciousness/

People:

• Ned Block, Director

• David Chalmers, Director

Selected Research

• Chalmers, David J. "Could a large language model be conscious?." arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.07103 (2023).

Public Engagement

• Upcoming events

• Past events
  

Research Focus Overview
New York City, USA. The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy conducts and supports foundational research on the nature and intrinsic value of nonhuman minds, including biological and artificial minds.

Website: https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/mindethicspolicy/home

People:

• Jeff Sebo, Director

• Toni Sims, Researcher

Full staff list.

Selected Research

• Caviola, Lucius, Jeff Sebo, and Jonathan Birch. "What will society think about AI consciousness? Lessons from the animal case." Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2025).

• Long, Robert, Jeff Sebo, and Toni Sims. "Is there a tension between AI safety and AI welfare?." Philosophical Studies (2025): 1-29.

• Long, Robert, et al. "Taking AI welfare seriously." arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.00986 (2024).

Public Engagement

• Events (upcoming events and previous recordings).

• Media and public writing.