The Second ICCS Conference
"AI and Sentience"
Heraklion, Crete, Megaron Hotel, 3–5 July 2025
9:00–9:20 — Welcome speeches
09:20–11:20 — General approaches to AI sentience I
Chair: Maria Kasmirli
Keith Frankish. How to think about artificial consciousness
Nicholas Humphrey. The mirage of sentient AI
Michael Pauen. Ascribing Higher Cognitive Abilities to AI
11:20–11:40 — Coffee break
11:40–13:00 — The psychology of AI
Chair: Emanuele Castano
Alessandro Acciai, Alessio Plebe. From Simulation to Dissimulation: Tracing Self-Consciousness in AI
Katarina Marcincinova. Positive aspect of illusionism and its implications for AI sentience
13:00–14:30 — Lunch
14:30–16:30 — Sentient AI in the social context
Chair: Emanuele Castano
Pietro Perconti. Sentient machines already exist (and it has nothing to do with Deep Learning)
Clara Colombatto. Public Perceptions of AI Consciousness: Predictors and Consequences
Antonio Chella. AI Consciousness and Robot Inner Speech
16:30–17:10 — Coffee break and Poster session:
Besedin A. Sentience is not a matter of definition!
Campo A. Whitehead and Ruyer on AI’s sentience
Hamilton D. Platform for safe efficient conscious AI agent verification
Kuznetsov A. Radical epistemic underdetermination: AI and Alien Sentience
Loginov E. The dilemma for the social approach to AI consciousness
Mehdipour Kiabani Z. Inner speech and sentience in artificial intelligence: Phenomenological and philosophical perspective on conscious experience
Mertsalov A. Sentient AGI and The Standard Psychological Continuity View
Osanlou M. Hegelian self-consciousness and the hard problem: Rethinking AI via Hegel’s dialectic
Tanyushina A. Physical AI and sentience
Tarasenko T. Systematic errors in AI: A challenge for sentience or architectural signature?
Yashin A. Toward Intentional Agency in Artificial Systems: Interplay of Input, Output, and Processing
17:10–19:00 — The selfhood and autonomy of AI
Chair: Artem Besedin
Michael Levin. Unconventional Selves: diverse intelligence in novel spaces, scales, and embodiments (Zoom)
Susan Schneider. Addressing questions of LLM sentience (Zoom)
MEGARON HOTEL (view on map):
9:00–11:00 — General approaches to AI sentience II
Chair: Pietro Perconti
Susan Blackmore. What is it like to be artificially intelligent?
David Chalmers. On the computational correlates of consciousness
Robert Clowes. Confabulating Centres of Narrative Gravity with Large Language Models and its Implications for Understanding Consciousness
11:00–11:15 — Coffee break
11:15–12:40 — General approaches to AI sentience II (ending)
Chair: Andy Clark
Riccardo Manzotti. AI and Value: from cost function optimization to artificial freedom
Maria Raffa. Active Inference and AI Sentience: A Framework for Exploring Artificial Consciousness
12:40–14:30 — Lunch
MUNICIPAL GALLERY OF HERAKLION (view on map):
14:30–15:20 — Special art event
15:20–16:40 — Practical approaches to sentient AI
Chair: Dmitry Volkov
Daniel Hulme. Intelligence and Consciousness: in practice
Roman Yampolskiy. Limits of explainability, predictability and control for advanced AIs/Superintelligence Speech
16:40–17:00 — Coffee break
17:00–19:00 — Discussion: Sentience beyond human biology
Chair: Patrick House
Discussion with Joscha Bach, Matthew Macdougall, Murray Shanahan, and Dmitry Volkov
9:30–10:00 — Introduction of the Dennett Prize winner
10:00–11:30 — Andy Clark. Dennett Lecture
