Are AI minds genuine minds?

11^th March 2026, 14:00
Moshe Y. Vardi
Rice University

Abstract

The question “Are AI minds genuine minds?” invites us to examine the nature of mind itself and whether artificial intelligence meets its defining
criteria. A genuine mind is typically associated with consciousness, self-awareness, intentionality, and the capacity to experience mental states such as emotions. Whether AI qualifies as possessing a true mind ultimately depends on how we define the essential qualities of consciousness and intelligence. While this question has already been raised in the 19th Century, recent progress in AI requires us to re-examine it deeply.

Biography

Moshe Y. Vardi is University Professor and the George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering at Rice University. His research focuses on the interface of mathematical logic and computation -- inluding database theory, hardware/software design and verification,
multi-agent systems, and constraint satisfaction. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the ACM SIGACT Goedel Prize, the ACM Kanellakis Award, the ACM SIGMOD Codd Award, the Knuth Prize, the IEEE Computer Society Goode Award, and the EATCS Distinguished
Achievements Award. He is the author and co-author of over 800 papers as well as two books. He is a Guggenheim Fellow as well as fellow of
several societies, and a member of several academies, including the US National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the Royal Society of London. He holds ten honorary titles. He is a Senior Editor of the Communications of the ACM, the premier publication in computing.