Rosie Campbell, Robert Long, and Jeff Sebo, "Studying AI Welfare Empirically"

About the Event AI systems are becoming more capable and widely deployed, raising the possibility that some may be welfare subjects. In this event, Robert Long and Jeff Sebo will discuss a new CMEP-Eleos working paper about how to study AI welfare empirically, even under uncertainty. They will distinguish between three dimensions of investigation: the question being asked (whether a system is a welfare subject, and what would benefit or harm it), the entity being assessed (models, instances, personas), and the kind of evidence gathered (behavioral, internal, and developmental). They will then apply these tools to leading candidate welfare grounds—consciousness, sentience, and three levels of agency—and close with principles for conducting this research rigorously, ethically, and transparently. Following discussion with Rosie Campbell (Eleos) about the paper and the broader context for this work, there will be an audience Q&A. About the Speakers Rosie Campbell is the Managing Director at Eleos AI Research. Previously, she led the Policy Frontiers team at OpenAI and worked on issues such as dangerous capability evals and the governance of agentic AI systems. Before joining OpenAI, Rosie was Head of Safety-Critical AI at the Partnership on AI, and Assistant Director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible AI. She has a background as a research engineer and holds an undergraduate degree in Physics and a master’s degree in Computer Science. She writes at www.rosiecampbell.xyz. Robert Long is Executive Director of Eleos AI Research, a research organization dedicated to understanding and addressing the potential wellbeing and moral patienthood of AI systems. He is a leading researcher on AI consciousness and AI welfare, working on issues at the intersection of philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and the ethics of AI. Previously, Rob was a researcher at the Center for AI Safety and at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. He holds a PhD in philosophy from NYU, where he was advised by David Chalmers, Ned Block, and Michael Strevens. He writes at experiencemachines.substack.com. Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, and Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy at New York University. He is the author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Environment. He is also an advisory board member at the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, an advisor at Eleos AI Research, and a senior affiliate at the Institute for Law & AI. This event is co-hosted by Eleos AI Research.