We are pleased to announce that Professor Amy Kind, Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College and Director of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, has been elected as an Academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) in recognition of her important contributions to the philosophy of imagination, consciousness studies, philosophy of mind, personal identity, introspection, and self-knowledge.
Professor Amy Kind is the Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College and Director of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies. She is also a highly influential contemporary scholar in the field of philosophy of mind. Her long-standing research focuses on imagination, consciousness, personal identity, introspection, and self-knowledge, systematically examining how subjects form modal and possibility-based thought, how they understand their own mental states, how personal identity persists over time, and why conscious experience cannot be reduced simply to external behavior or functional output.
WAAC believes that the study of artificial consciousness requires not only advances in artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and computational modeling, but also foundational philosophical clarification of consciousness, imagination, selfhood, subjectivity, and introspective mechanisms. Professor Kind’s work provides important theoretical resources for research on artificial consciousness, including generative cognition, subjective experience, self-modeling, metacognition, identity continuity, and the possibility of machine minds.
In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the philosophy of imagination, consciousness studies, philosophy of mind, personal identity, and introspection, the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness has decided to confer upon Professor Amy Kind the title of WAAC Academician.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
Academicians of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness hail from institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Oxford, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter. Honorary Academicians come from a wide range of countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. In addition, leading scientists from prominent research institutes and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and ZEEKR—also participate.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.