person
Joscha Bach
Cognitive scientist; consciousness researcher
Cognitive scientist and AI researcher whose talks on consciousness and AGI are widely shared. Argues AGI is closer than people think and that the question of whether AI systems are conscious is live.
Profile
expertise
Deep technical
Sustained peer-reviewed contribution to ML, alignment, interpretability, or safety techniques. Could review a frontier paper.
Cognitive scientist; works on computational models of cognition. Theoretical contributor to AI consciousness and cognitive architectures.
recognition
Established
Reliable, recognised voice within their specific subfield. Cited and invited but not central to general AI discourse.
Recurring podcast guest (Lex Fridman). Recognised in cognitive-science and rationalist circles.
vintage
Pre-deep-learning
Active before AlexNet. The existential-risk frame matures (FHI, OpenPhil, EA). Public AI commentary still rare; deep learning not yet dominant.
Cognitive-architecture work spans 2000s-present. Frame predates deep learning.
Hand-classified. See the board for the criteria and the full grid.
Strategy positions
Digital mindsendorses
Mind-uploading or digital people as strategic horizonArgues consciousness is substrate-independent and that AI systems may become subjects in their own right.
Consciousness is not what the brain does. It's the model the brain has of what it does.
Closest strategy neighbours
by jaccard overlapOther people whose strategy tags overlap with Joscha Bach's. Overlap is on tag identity, not stance; opposites can show up if they reference the same tags.
Record last updated 2026-04-25.