Jonathan Birch

London School of Economics and Political Science · Welfare

Jonathan Birch Photograph by Jonathan Birch, CC BY 4.0.

Jonathan Birch works on the question the theoretical dispute leaves unanswered, which is what to do in the meantime. His book The Edge of Sentience treats the hard cases together, foetuses, disorders of consciousness, invertebrates and artificial systems, on the grounds that they share a structure. In each, the evidence is insufficient to settle the question and decisions cannot wait.

The LSE Criteria give a practical threshold for identifying a sentience candidate without requiring proof of phenomenal experience, drawing on neurophysiological markers of pain rather than on any single theory. His run-ahead principle then argues that precautionary measures should be in place before the technology arrives, since a framework designed after the fact will be shaped by whatever has already been built.

His centrist position on AI specifically is that both confident camps are overreaching, and that the correct response to genuine uncertainty is a decision procedure rather than a bet. That work is why the welfare literature is now more developed than the detection literature, and it appears in policy documents while the metaphysics remains open.

Known for. The Edge of Sentience, the LSE Criteria, and the run-ahead principle

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Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers, grouped by the position their published work defends. The positions themselves are set out in the index of consciousness theories.