Outlook Business Desk
Google DeepMind has appointed philosopher Henry Shevlin to a new role focused on machine consciousness, human-AI relationships and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) readiness.
Shevlin said he will join DeepMind in May while continuing part-time research and teaching at the University of Cambridge. His work will focus on machine consciousness, human-AI relationships and AGI readiness within the organisation’s research areas.
Henry Shevlin is a philosopher and AI ethicist at the University of Cambridge. He works as Associate Director (Education) at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, focusing on intelligence, consciousness and ethical risks linked to artificial intelligence systems.
Shevlin is known for research that connects philosophy with new technologies. He studies machine intelligence, AI ethics and human-AI relationships. He has also spoken at international conferences on technology and ethics and contributed to academic discussions in these areas.
He earned a PhD in Philosophy from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2016 with honours. His research focused on consciousness, perception and memory, studying how the human mind processes experience, awareness and understanding.
At the University of Cambridge, Shevlin has worked as a researcher, senior researcher and programme director in the Kinds of Intelligence programme. He now leads AI ethics education initiatives and has managed programmes with more than 100 students.
Beyond academia, Shevlin has advised companies such as AstraZeneca, Accenture and Vodafone on AI strategy and ethics. He has also helped design AI ethics curricula and published research in leading academic journals.