The Founding Assembly for Machine Consciousness Research
//DATE
29th to 31st MAY 2026
//LOCATION
Lighthaven in Berkeley , CA
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From hard problem to
tractable scientific challenge
From hard problem to tractable scientific challenge
MC0001 is the first coordinated conference dedicated to investigating how artificial conscious systems could be constructed under a computational paradigm, and what it would mean to succeed. Hosted by the California Institute for Machine Consciousness (CIMC).
This gathering is meant as a working assembly: a small, high-context convening of contributors engaged in making artificial consciousness into a formally grounded, experimentally addressable domain of inquiry.
[PROGRAM]
FOUNDATIONAL THEORY
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION
ETHICS & SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS
AI ART & EXPERIENCES
[ABOUT]
We investigate how artificial conscious systems could be constructed, and what it would mean to succeed.
[SPEAKERS]
Richard Granger
Director of the Dartmouth Brain Engineering lab
Christoph V.d. Malsburg
Fellow Emeritus at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Stephen Wolfram
Wolfram
Hikari Sorensen
Researcher, CIMC
Karl Friston
Professor: Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London Honorary Consultant: The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
Joscha Bach
Executive Director, CIMC
Angie Normandale
Aintelope
Franz Hildebrandt-Harangozó
Songs & Argumente
Anders Sandberg
Institute for Futures Studies (Mimir Center for Long Term Futures)
Daphne Demekas
Mind at Large
George Deane
University of Edinburgh
Kirill Eves
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Luca Turin
University of Buckingham, SpinBio Ltd
David Pearce
Director, BLTC Research
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Phillip Rosedale
CIMC, Linden Labs
Mike Johnson
Founder, Symmetry Institute
Timothy Hanson
Springtail
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Patricia Craja
Amalie AI
Jean Tardy
MecaSapiens
Michael Levin
Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor of Biology at Tufts University
Jim Rutt
Chairman Emeritus CIMC
Chris Percy
Fundamental Consciousness Lead, The Consciousness Foundation
Catalin Mitelut
Founder & CEO, Netholabs Ltd (UK)
Ryota Kanai
CEO, ARAYA, Inc.
Lenore Blum
Distinguished Career Professor of CS, Emerita, CMU
Elena Sergeeva
Foresight Institute Fellow and Advisor | Scientist at Tufts and Harvard
Rana Gujral
CEO, Behavioral Signals
Lou de K
Program Director, CIMC
Larissa Albantakis
Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thorsten Zander
Co-Founder Zander Labs & Auryal
[PROGRAM STRUCTURE]
01.
Foundational theory:
What is consciousness, functionally and formally?
Goal: Establishing definitions precise enough to generate testable hypothesis.
Topics include:
- Functional organization of consciousness and self-models
- Second-order perception, reflexivity, and meta-representation
- Consciousness as a coherence-regulating process across distributed models
- Emergence of unified experience in self-organizing systems
- Computationalist and constructivist approaches to phenomenology
02.
Technical implementation:
How can conscious systems be built?
Goal: Translating theory into working architectures and experiments.
Topics include:
- Architectures for coherence maximization and reflexive self-modeling
- Self-organizing systems, including neural cellular automata
- Developmental approaches to synthetic cognition
- Psychometrics for AI: measuring personality, epistemic depth, and internal structure
- Beyond the Turing Test: architectural and dynamical signatures of consciousness
- Phase transitions, developmental trajectories, and internal observables
- Bridging biological and silicon substrates
03.
Ethics, societal implications:
What follows if machines can be conscious?
Goal: Examine consequences of artificial consciousness, define guardrails before capabilities outpace understanding.
Topics include:
- Valence, affect, and the functional correlates of consciousness
- Consciousness and AI alignment: necessity, risk, or both
- Moral status, thresholds, and developmental criteria
- Obligations toward nascent conscious systems
- Governance and research norms for potentially sentient artifacts
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04.
Art & culture:
How do we make artificial consciousness and its implications legible to society?
Goal: Bridge technical research and human intelligibility.
Topics include:
- Artworks and visualizations
- Storytelling & narratives
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How to
PARTICIPATE
We invite researchers, builders, and thinkers to contribute:
- Give a talk, present a paper
- Lead a session relevant to the topic
- Design an experience about machine consciousness
- Curate a conceptual or artistic intervention
If you are actively shaping the field, we want to hear from you.
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[THE VENUE]
LIGHTHAVEN IN
BERKELEY, California
MC0001 takes place in California, where foundational work in computation has long converged and specifically in Berkeley, a city known for its unique density of thinkers working across science, philosophy, and engineering.
The conference is hosted at Lighthaven, neither a hotel nor a traditional conference center, but a shared setting designed to support deep discussion, informal collaboration, and the kind of unexpected encounters that tend to happen between sessions, beyond the main program.
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[TICKETING]
2 Days TICKET
This ticket gives you access to both days of the event.
Including snacks and beverages throughout the day.
2 day tickets at $850
$850
/Ticket
tickets
All-ACCESS TICKET
This ticket gives you access to both days of the event, plus access to invite only events. Includes breakfast, snacks and beverages throughout the day.
Access to our speaker & sponsor Welcome Gathering
Access to the after party
$1,700
/Ticket
tickets
STUDENT TICKET
This pass gives you access to both days of the event.
Including snacks and beverages throughout the day.
Requires approval: Student ID and email must be shown at registration
$200
/Ticket
tickets
Stay on-site during the conference !
Includes: 1 room and 1x All Access Ticket.
This ticket gives you access to both days of the event, plus access to invite only events. Includes breakfast, snacks and beverages throughout the day.
+ Access to our speaker & sponsor Welcome Gathering
+ Access to the after party
This ticket gives you access to both days of the event, plus access to invite only events. Includes breakfast, snacks and beverages throughout the day.
+ Access to our speaker & sponsor Welcome Gathering
+ Access to the after party
$3,000
/Room
Book a room
[SPONSORSHIP]
[THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS]
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