PaperSeptember 2026
AI Rights with an Off-Switch
Rights-balancing and due process harmonize AI rights with AI safety. A new working paper by Heather Alexander and Jonathan A. Simon.
2026
Op-edSeptember 2026
It’s Too Early To Ban AI Personhood
Heather Alexander, with Lucius Caviola of Cambridge Digital Minds, on the anti-AI personhood laws in the USA.
WorkshopAugust 2026
Presenting at the Cambridge Digital Minds Strategy Workshop
Heather Alexander and Jonathan Simon co-presented on recent legal developments in the USA on AI personhood. Heather also mentored one of the fellows.
PodcastJuly 2026
Heather Alexander on AI personhood and rights
A conversation with PRISM, the Partnership for Research Into Sentient Machines.
ReportMay 2026
Denying Personhood to AI
An analysis of U.S. state legislation on AI legal status, with Austin Smith and Lucius Caviola of Cambridge Digital Minds.
Op-edMay 2026
Does AI Have Free Speech?
An op-ed in the Duluth News Tribune on Minnesota’s proposed anti-AI free speech amendment, with NYU philosopher Jeff Sebo.
PanelApril 2026
AI personhood at the NYU Mind, Ethics, and Policy Summit
Heather Alexander joined the panel on AI personhood at the 2026 summit of the NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy.
PaperApril 2026
Is there a right to receive nonhuman “speech”?
A paper with philosopher Jeff Sebo on the right to receive AI and animal speech under the US Constitution.
TalkMarch 2026
AI consciousness and the possible personhood of AI under the law
Heather Alexander and Jonathan Simon spoke at a public event organized by MONIC, the Montreal Initiative for Consciousness.
TalkMarch 2026
AI personhood at the Université de Montréal faculty of law
Heather Alexander, Jonathan Simon and Frédéric Pinard presented on AI personhood.
TalkMarch 2026
AI personhood at the IVADO workshop on social reasoning
Jonathan Simon presented at the IVADO conference on AI, Social Reasoning and the Ecology of Thought.
AwardMarch 2026
Medal for Excellence in Research
Jonathan Simon received the 2025 Medal for Excellence in Research of the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
TalkFebruary 2026
Two talks at the Sentient Futures Summit
In San Francisco, Jonathan Simon spoke on AI and animal speech and AI personhood under the law; Heather Alexander spoke on how human rights norms can inform the balancing of human safety and AI rights.
TalkFebruary 2026
AI agents and the global migration system
Heather Alexander presented at the CLAIR-AI writing retreat in Bandera, Texas.
TalkFebruary 2026
Human rights norms and the balance of human safety and AI rights
Heather Alexander spoke at a public event of the Montréal community for AI safety, ethics, and governance.
WorkshopFebruary 2026
AI Misinformation Workshop at McGill
Frédéric Pinard took part in the AI Misinformation Workshop at McGill University.
TalkJanuary 2026
Talks in Venice and Baltimore
Jonathan Simon presented at the FNRS contact group in epistemology in Venice on January 7, and at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Baltimore on January 10.
2025
Op-edNovember 2025
Ohio’s AI Personhood Ban Risks Outlawing the Future
An op-ed by Jonathan Simon and Heather Alexander in the Ohio Capital Journal.
TalkNovember 2025
AI personhood at the Eleos Conference on AI Consciousness and Welfare
Jonathan Simon presented in Berkeley, California, November 21 to 23.
EventSeptember 2025
Digital Cooperation Day at the United Nations
Heather Alexander attended Digital Cooperation Day at the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York.
PaperSeptember 2025
How Should the Law Treat Future AI Systems?
Fictional legal personhood versus legal identity: our new paper in the Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology and the Internet.
TalkMay 2025
AI agents, civil registration and border control at GLOBALCIT
Jonathan Simon and Heather Alexander presented at the MPC GLOBALCIT conference, Contested boundaries: migration and citizenship regimes in comparative perspective, at the European University Institute in Italy.
PanelMarch 2025
Should we worry about the welfare of AI?
Jonathan Simon and Heather Alexander spoke on robot rights at a McGill roundtable with Jocelyn Maclure.
TalkMarch 2025
Robot rights at the University of British Columbia
Heather Alexander presented on robot rights to law students at UBC.
TalkFebruary 2025
Robots and legal identity at the NYU Mind, Ethics, and Policy Summit
Jonathan Simon and Heather Alexander presented in New York.