DeepMind hires philosopher

Google DeepMind has hired Cambridge philosopher Henry Shevlin into an in-house role working on machine consciousness and artificial general intelligence readiness. (indiatoday.in) Shevlin said on April 13 that he will work on machine consciousness, human-artificial intelligence relationships and artificial general intelligence, while continuing part-time at the University of Cambridge. His Cambridge roles include Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and Programme Co-Director for Kinds of Intelligence. (x.com, lcfi.ac.uk) His published work centers on consciousness, anthropomorphism and the growing cognitive capabilities of generative artificial intelligence systems. On his personal site, Shevlin describes research on non-human consciousness, moral patiency, welfare and human tendencies to treat machines as if they were minds. (henryshevlin.com, philpeople.org) Machine consciousness is the question of whether a system only imitates experience or actually has one. Google DeepMind published a paper on March 10 arguing that current digital systems can simulate consciousness-related behavior without instantiating consciousness itself. (deepmind.google) The hire lands as Google DeepMind says it is building toward artificial general intelligence with formal internal safety processes. The lab says its Responsibility and Safety teams work on ethics, governance, security and public engagement, and that its Artificial General Intelligence Safety Council reviews high-impact research and collaborations. (deepmind.google, deepmind.google) DeepMind has used outside-facing ethics structures before. In 2017, it launched DeepMind Ethics & Society as a research unit on the social and ethical questions raised by artificial intelligence. (deepmind.google) Other labs have already embedded philosophers in technical work. Anthropic philosopher Amanda Askell says she works on fine-tuning and alignment, and Anthropic’s January 2026 constitution for Claude lists her as the primary author. (askell.io, anthropic.com) That makes Shevlin’s appointment less a one-off than a sign of how frontier labs are staffing for questions that engineers alone cannot settle. DeepMind is adding philosophical judgment inside the lab as it argues over what advanced systems are, how people will relate to them and what safeguards should come first. (msn.com, deepmind.google)