The UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS), supported by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, hosted a virtual lecture with Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan (University of Oxford) on December 1, 2025 entitled “Sentient AI and Transdisciplinary Philosophy: Implications for Safety, Ethics, Dignity, and Governance.” 

Introduced by UNESCO Chair Dr. Moneera Al-Ghadeer and moderated by Dr. Charles Forsdick, Drapers Professor of French at Cambridge University and Translating Cultures Lab Research Fellow, the lecture focused on the emerging prospect of sentient artificial intelligence (AI) and its far-reaching human, societal, and global implications. As advances in AI and neurotechnologies bring machine sentience within the realm of near-term plausibility, society remains critically unprepared for both the groundbreaking opportunities and complex challenges ahead. Even in the absence of genuine sentience, the mere perception of consciousness in machines can provoke significant social disruption and raise fundamental ethical questions about agency, moral consideration, and the distribution of rights and responsibilities.  

Central to this discussion was Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan’s manifesto on “The Transdisciplinary Philosophy Imperative: Safeguarding the Future of Humanity”—a call for philosophers, scientists, policymakers, political scientists, technologists, civil society and others to step out of their traditional silos and collaborate to manage a future shaped by a relentless, collective, borderless and uncertain disruptive technological progress. Through Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan's neuro-techno-philosophical (NTP) lens, this talk examined the transformative potential of artificial sentience in domains such as social cohesion, human dignity, governance, geopolitics, transcultural security, national and global security, global order, weaponized interdependence, resource management, war and peace, safety, security, ethics, and civil liberties. Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan offered a pragmatic and forward-looking roadmap for navigating both the promises and perils of a future shaped by artificial sentience.