Is AI sentient? Professor breaks down the evidence around AI, plant, fish and insect sentience

Dr Jonathan Birch is a prize winning Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics (LSE). His research focuses on animal sentience, welfare, and ethics. He is also Director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, a new research centre based in LSE. Dr Birch is an internationally respected philosopher and author of dozens of articles and two books, including 2025’s award winning book The Edge of Sentience . In 2021, he was the Principal Investigator of a review that led the UK to recognise cephalopods and decapod crustaceans as sentient. Jonathan’s work has been cited in several policies banning octopus farming. He is also a founding member of the Insect Welfare Research Society, a group of researchers working together to close gaps regarding evidence on insect welfare and sentience. In 2014, he received a Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises 'the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising'. You can find more about Jonathan's work here: - - Today's topics: What is sentience? In today's podcast episode I chat with Dr Jonathan Birch, a prize-winning philosopher and expert on sentience. We discuss whether AI is or will ever be sentient, as well as whether plants, fish or insects are sentient. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 📚To order my new book, click this link. For more exclusive content and personal writing from me, check out my Substack here . On my Substack, I share not only my own reflections and personal thoughts on veganism, but also my journey and struggles. You’ll get a deeper insight into the issues that matter most to me and, in doing so, I hope it helps you feel more connected to your own veganism as well. It’s a space where we can connect and explore the intersection of compassion, reason and rationality together. By joining my Substack you also support the work that I do! Through my Substack you can also receive regular free 'Good News Roundups' - a collection of positive and inspiring stories from the world of veganism. If you’d like to support my work separately to Substack, you can also make a one-off or monthly donation here or through my PayPal . If you’re interested in reading my previous books, you can find them here: 📚 My second book How to Argue With a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time ) + if you’ve read the book, you can leave a review here ! 📚 My first book This is Vegan Propaganda (& Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You ) . Additionally, if you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review or rating. Your feedback helps the podcast reach more people, and it truly means a lot to me. If you think this episode would resonate with someone you know, please share it with them too. Thank you so much for listening to this episode and for all of your support. I look forward to speaking to you again in the next episode!

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Is AI sentient? Professor breaks down the evidence around AI, plant, fish and insect sentience is an episode from The Disclosure Podcast by Ed Winters.

This episode is 74:18 long.

This episode was published on Apr 10, 2026.

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