Jen Semler (@jensemler) profile picture

Jen Semler

@jensemler

Philosopher of AI and ethics | Lecturer at Birkbeck

jensemler.com/
Joined December 2018
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Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)Photo by Jen Semler (@jensemler)
New job reveal! Super excited!!!
Image from Jen Semler (@jensemler)
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View of my last ferry ride home from @cornell_tech! Had a wonderful time during my postdoc with the Digital Life Initiative, and excited for the next stage of my career!
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In November, I had a great time talking with Ben Byford about artificial moral agency for the Machine Ethics Podcast. The episode is now out: machine-ethics.net/podcast/m…
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🚨 The Fifth Annual Formal and Experimental Philosophy Workshop (FAX5) is happening March 20–21, 2026 at Lake Forest College! Details here: lakeforest.edu/formal-and-ex…
Image from Paul Henne (@paul_henne)
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A recent paper argues against the claim that goal preservation is instrumentally convergent. This post written by the authors: reflectivealtruism.com/2025/…
Papers I learned from (Part 6: A timing problem for instrumental convergence) - Reflective altruism

Papers I learned from (Part 6: A timing problem for instrumental convergence) - Reflective altruism

Should we expect means-end rational agents to preserve their goals? Southan, Ward and Semler are skeptical.

reflectivealtruism.com
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And now, I'm thrilled to be starting a postdoc at Cornell Tech as part of the Digital Life Initiative!
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Officially Dr. Semler! Graduated from Oxford with a DPhil (PhD) in Philosophy for my dissertation "On Artificial Moral Agency"! Special thanks to my wonderful supervisors @carissaveliz and Alison Hills; examiners Roger Crisp and David Shoemaker; and mentors, friends, and family.
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I'm also excited to share that another paper of mine, co-authored with Helena Ward and Rhys Southan, "A Timing Problem for Instrumental Convergence," is out in Philosophical Studies! doi.org/10.1007/s11098-025-0…
A timing problem for instrumental convergence

A timing problem for instrumental convergence

Philosophical Studies - Those who worry about a superintelligent AI destroying humanity often appeal to the instrumental convergence thesis—the claim that even if we don’t know what a...

link.springer.com
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I'm so excited to share that the first paper from my dissertation, "Moral Agency without Consciousness," is now out at the Canadian Journal of Philosophy! doi.org/10.1017/can.2025.100…
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Maybe it's called "phenomenal" consciousness because it's just so amazing
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Finally, Aldi has recognized the work of Dr. Pepper with the appointment to (what I assume to be a permanent faculty position) Professor Peppy
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Getting some help finishing the slides for my flash talk at the Moral Psychology of AI conference tomorrow @KentPsychology!
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Congratulations to everyone who ran in the #townandgown10k on Sunday. Here are some of our students who ran in support of Muscular Dystrophy UK. Well done Reubenites!!! #musculardystrophy #oxfordtownandgown #teamrueben #reubencollege #oxfordstudents
Image from Reuben College, Oxford (@ReubenCollege)
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The AAAI/ACM #Conference on #AI, #Ethics, and Society invites #PhD students to apply for the AIES student track, offering targeted programming, mentorship, & funding to attend @AIESConf in Montreal from Aug. 8-10, 2023. Deadline: May 12, 2023. CFA here: aies-conference.com/2023/cal…

Call for Papers (Students)

aies-conference.com
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Having a great time at the @ReubenCollege art & science public engagement event at @morethanadodo - happy brain awareness week!
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Mark your calendars for this conference! It will be hybrid, so you can still tune into the talks if you can't make it to Oxford in person!
26th Oxford Graduate Philosophy Conference (@GradConfOxford) profile picture26th Oxford Graduate Philosophy Conference@GradConfOxford11 Oct 2022
With a month until the conference, we are excited to announce our graduate speakers! 🧵 1/14 (in no particular order)
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Excited to share my new website! Wrote the code myself (HTML & CSS) 😎. jensemler.com
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Maybe by the end of my PhD I’ll have a good answer for when I tell people what I do and they say, “So what’s your philosophy?”
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Oh and also a socially acceptable response to: “Who’s your favorite philosopher?”
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Only a few days left to submit to the Oxford Graduate Philosophy Conference - deadline is this Friday at 11:59 PM! philevents.org/event/show/10…
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