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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social

@tom-mcclelland.bsky.social
323 followers 60 following 39 posts
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Nice interview with Vikas Shah for 'Thought Economics' on AI, consciousness etc. thoughteconomics.com/tom-mcclella... #AI #philosophy #digitalminds
thoughteconomics.com
Could Machines Be Conscious? A Conversation with Dr Tom McClelland on Minds, Machines and the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Cambridge philosopher Dr Tom McClelland on whether AI could be conscious, why LLMs have broken our tools for detecting minds, and the hard problem of consciousness.
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
My work has just been sassed by a machine (see comments). A company with the not-at-all-scary name 'Red Dawn Academic Press' has an AI called Cognita Prime II that writes articles. The articles are then published in a 'journal' with two editors, one of which is the aforementioned AI!
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
I have a new article out in *AI & Society* on AI creativity and AI consciousness. It's been fun developing this argument. Thanks to all those I've discussed it with! Link and abstract in the comments 🙂
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
My new paper on artificial consciousness is out today! There's some news coverage of this today too. Links in comments.
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University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 18/12/2025
Can we ever know if AI is conscious? 🤖 Cambridge philosopher @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social argues that the only rational stance is agnosticism. Find out why this matters for ethics and tech hype 👇 bit.ly/4j0MSaY
cam.ac.uk
We may never be able to tell if AI becomes conscious, argues philosopher
This gulf in knowledge could be exploited by a tech industry intent on selling the “next level of AI cleverness”, argues Dr Tom McClelland.
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Was genuinely in a staff meeting this week where the chair said 'We can begin when the owl has arrived'. I think we've reached peak- Cambridge.
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Paulina Sliwa @pasliwa.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
New paper with @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social! What is it to see someone as an object – to perceptually objectify them? We argue that seeing is not just a metaphor. We see others afford doing things with and to. doi.org/10.1111/ejop...
doi.org
Seeing Others as Objects: Perceptual Objectification & Affordances
In discussions of objectification, the use of visual language is ubiquitous. It is striking that the literature often talks about treating and seeing someone as an object in the same breath. Yet acc...
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Short piece out in *AI & Society* called "The winds of culture: AI art generators and the Aeolian harp". I suggest that making music with an aeolian harp has interesting similarities to making music with AI (link in comments)
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Reposted by @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social
Huw Price @huwprice.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
For some reason this made me think of @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Cambridge Neuroscience are hosting a panel for the Cambridge Festival on 'Consciousness at the Edge'. Hear top neuroscientists (and me) discuss sleep, disorders of consciousness and AI consciousness. Link in comments. 6:00pm-7:30pm on Thu 27 Mar McCrum Lecture Theatre, Corpus Christi College
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Had a letter on AI published in @theguardian.com this weekend (link in comments). Lots of interesting stuff happening right now on the prospects of conscious AI and what to do about it. #AI #artificialconsciousness
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
There's a recent open letter that calls for greater precautions around conscious AI. The Metro interviewed me for an article about it here metro.co.uk/.../fears-ai... Some of the quotes are taken out of context but I think it retains the gist of what I said.
metro.co.uk
Fears AI 'could be made to suffer' if it becomes conscious
Some think making it work for us would be akin to slavery.
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tom-mcclelland.bsky.social @tom-mcclelland.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Hey! This is my first post on Bluesky. Researchers be interested in my new paper 'Agnosticism About Artificial Consciousness'. Some say that AI could become conscious. Others say it couldn't. I say we don't know then deal with the moral mess this leaves us in! arxiv.org/pdf/2412.13145 Abstract below
arxiv.org
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