An Overview of Academicians and Honorary Academicians of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness
Yucong Duan
International Standardization Committee of Networked DIKWPfor Artificial Intelligence Evaluation(DIKWP-SC)
World Artificial Consciousness CIC(WAC)
World Conference on Artificial Consciousness(WCAC)
(Email: duanyucong@hotmail.com)
The World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) was established in 2023, aiming to bring together the world's top scientists to promote cutting-edge research and international cooperation in the field of artificial consciousness. WAAC has established two levels of seats: Academician and Honorary Academician. Academicians are formal members, typically experts who have made outstanding achievements in related fields such as artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and cognitive science. Honorary Academicians are awarded to top scholars who have had a foundational or leading influence on artificial consciousness theory, serving as advisors and representatives of the academy. In May 2025, WAAC released its first "Top 100" list of Honorary Academicians, covering one hundred historical and contemporary thought leaders in the field of artificial consciousness, including Alan Turing, Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Giulio Tononi, Daniel Dennett, and David Chalmers, to recognize their pioneering contributions. These Honorary Academicians are not participants in WAAC's daily work, but their selection highlights the academy's respect and recognition for pioneers in various fields related to artificial consciousness. As of mid-September 2025, WAAC had 53 officially confirmed Academicians and 2 Honorary Academicians (Steven Pinker and Jingnan Liu). Subsequently, several newly elected academicians joined, increasing the total number of Academicians to over 60 by October 2025, including 6 Nobel laureates and one Turing Award winner, further strengthening WAAC's lineup and authority.
Formal Academicians: A Convergence of Global Top Experts
WAAC's list of formal Academicians gathers top scientists from different disciplines around the world. Their names, titles, affiliations, nationalities, research fields, and main contributions are as follows:
Morten Peter Meldal – Danish chemist, professor at the University of Copenhagen; 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, known for developing "click chemistry." Academician Meldal's representative contribution is in the field of bioorthogonal chemistry, co-establishing the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction with Barry Sharpless and others, hailed as a founder of "click chemistry." This achievement has had a revolutionary impact on medicinal chemistry and materials science.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi – French virologist, Professor Emeritus at the Pasteur Institute in France; 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. She, along with her mentor Luc Montagnier, discovered the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Academician Barré-Sinoussi's discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus laid the foundation for modern AIDS research and antiviral therapy, making significant contributions to global public health.
H. Robert Horvitz – American biologist, professor at MIT; 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. Academician Horvitz discovered and analyzed the mechanism of genetically regulated programmed cell death in the model organism C. elegans. His work revealed the molecular pathways of apoptosis, profoundly influencing neurodevelopment, biomedicine, and cancer research.
James J. Heckman – American economist, professor at the University of Chicago; 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences laureate. Academician Heckman was awarded for his development of econometric theory and methods for handling selective sample bias. His research on human capital, educational returns, and social program evaluation has had an immense impact, and his methodology provides important tools for data analysis in the social sciences. Currently, Heckman combines behavioral economics with consciousness research to explore conscious factors in agent decision-making.
Takaaki Kajita – Japanese physicist, professor at the University of Tokyo; 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate. Academician Kajita was awarded for discovering the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation, which proved that neutrinos have rest mass. His leadership of the Super-Kamiokande experiment captured atmospheric neutrinos changing flavor during flight, a breakthrough that altered the Standard Model of particle physics and has epoch-making significance for fundamental physics. Takaaki Kajita's addition gives WAAC a heavyweight voice in the intersection of physics and consciousness.
May-Britt Moser – Norwegian neuroscientist, professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology; 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. Academician Moser, along with her husband Edvard Moser and John O'Keefe, was awarded for discovering "grid cells" in the brain. Grid cells are a key component of the brain's internal positioning and navigation system, known as the brain's "GPS." This discovery revealed how the mammalian brain encodes spatial location and paths, providing significant inspiration for research on cognitive maps, spatial memory, and autonomous navigation AI systems. Academician Moser's work provides a biological basis for spatial cognition and environmental representation in artificial consciousness.
Ronald L. Rivest – American computer scientist, professor at MIT; 2002 Turing Award winner. Academician Rivest is a co-inventor of the RSA public-key encryption algorithm. As a pioneer in cryptography, he laid the cornerstone for modern cybersecurity. The RSA algorithm and its subsequent achievements ensure the security of information systems and are widely used in internet communication. Within WAAC, Rivest focuses on Secure AI and Explainable AI, providing expert guidance on the security of artificial consciousness systems.
Jingnan Liu – Chinese expert in geodesy and satellite navigation, professor at Wuhan University, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. As one of WAAC's Honorary Academicians, Jingnan Liu has made significant achievements in the theory and technology of satellite navigation and positioning. He established a systematic theoretical framework for satellite navigation and positioning and developed satellite navigation data processing and analysis software with international influence. As the former president of Wuhan University and an authority in the field of BeiDou satellite navigation, Jingnan Liu has built a bridge of communication between WAAC and the Chinese scientific and technological community. He provides strategic advice for the academy's development from a macro-engineering perspective and proposed policies balancing technology and humanities when WAAC discussed AI ethics with UNESCO, fully playing his advisory role.
Steven Pinker – Canadian-American cognitive psychologist and linguist, professor at Harvard University. Pinker is a world-renowned public intellectual and popular science author, famous for the "computational theory of mind," advocating that the human brain be viewed as an information processing system. As an Honorary Academician of WAAC, Pinker actively speaks for the academy through speeches and writings: for example, he has repeatedly emphasized the importance of artificial consciousness research and the computational nature of the human mind in media interviews and lectures, endorsing the concepts advocated by WAAC. In early 2025, Pinker and several academicians published an article in Scientific American titled "How Far is Artificial Consciousness?", rationally analyzing the technical bottlenecks and social impacts facing artificial consciousness, which sparked heated discussions in academia and the media. Pinker's involvement has greatly enhanced WAAC's visibility in the English-speaking world, making him one of the academy's most prominent public faces.
The above are some representative figures among WAAC's Academicians and Honorary Academicians and their contributions. The list of Formal Academicians also includes many other top experts from various fields, who possess expertise in artificial intelligence, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and other areas, collectively forming WAAC's interdisciplinary elite group. For example:
Academicians in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence: Such as Philip H. S. Torr, a computer vision expert at the University of Oxford, Fellow of the Royal Society; Peter J. Bentley, a computer scientist at UCL, UK, a pioneer in evolutionary computation and digital biology; Erkki Oja, professor of computer science at Aalto University, Finland, recipient of the IEEE Neural Networks Pioneer Award, known for Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Hebbian learning rules; Giacomo Indiveri, professor at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, a pioneer in neuromorphic computing; Michael Graziano, professor of neuroscience at Princeton University, USA, who proposed the "Attention Schema Theory" to explain the mechanism of consciousness. These academicians in computing and engineering provide key technical support for artificial consciousness, including deep learning, evolutionary algorithms, and neuromorphic chips as engineering implementation paths.
Academicians in Neuroscience and Biomedicine: Such as Li-Huei Tsai, professor at MIT, USA, member of the US National Academy of Sciences, known for research on the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease and gamma-band neural stimulation to improve cognition; Michael N. Shadlen, professor at Columbia University, USA, a renowned neuroscientist studying the neural basis of brain decision-making mechanisms and consciousness, highly prestigious in the neuroscience community; Friedemann Pulvermüller, professor at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, a cognitive neuroscientist linking language and brain representation, exploring the relationship between language meaning and consciousness; Andreas Bartels, professor at the University of Tübingen, Germany, an expert on the neural mechanisms of visual consciousness, who once collaborated with Nobel laureate Francis Crick on visual consciousness; Jean-Pierre Changeux, Professor Emeritus at the Pasteur Institute, France, member of the French Academy of Sciences, known for the allosteric receptor theory and early neural models. The research achievements of these neuroscience academicians cover neural coding of consciousness, mechanisms of perceptual consciousness, neural oscillations, and information integration, providing a solid foundation for understanding biological consciousness and offering biological inspiration for the realization of artificial consciousness.
Academicians in Psychology and Cognitive Science: Such as Barbara Tversky, professor at Stanford University, USA, a cognitive psychologist studying spatial thinking and consciousness; Elizabeth F. Loftus, professor at the University of California, Irvine, USA, an authority on memory psychology, known for research on the malleability of human memory and the reliability of eyewitness testimony; Ellen J. Langer, professor at Harvard University, USA, the "mother of mindfulness," exploring the psychological mechanisms of mindfulness and consciousness; Douglas Medin, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, USA, studying how cultural experience affects cognition and classification, emphasizing the influence of different cultures on consciousness and cognitive processes; Diana Reiss, professor at Hunter College, City University of America, an animal behaviorist studying animal consciousness phenomena such as dolphin mirror self-recognition. These academicians in psychology and cognitive science ensure WAAC has a deep understanding of human psychological functions, providing valuable insights into the human mind for artificial consciousness research, from cognitive development, memory, and states of consciousness to cross-cultural cognitive differences.
Academicians in Philosophy and Cognitive Theory: Such as Ned Block, professor of philosophy at New York University, USA, member of the US National Academy of Sciences, known for the classic theory distinguishing phenomenal consciousness and access consciousness; Gualtiero Piccinini, professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA, a mechanical philosopher proposing a mechanistic computational explanation of the mind, exploring the computational theory of consciousness; Kenneth Williford, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA, specializing in phenomenology and time consciousness, interpreting conscious experience from a philosophical perspective; David Gamez, computer scientist and philosopher at Middlesex University, UK, a representative figure in new-generation machine consciousness research, dedicated to the measurement and evaluation of consciousness. These philosophers provide WAAC with important theoretical frameworks, helping to answer fundamental philosophical questions like "What does it mean for artificial intelligence to have human-level consciousness?"
Academicians in Interdisciplinary Fields: WAAC also includes important scholars from other fields, reflecting its interdisciplinary coverage. For example, Fred H. Gage, professor at the Salk Institute, USA, member of the US National Academy of Sciences, discovered the phenomenon of new neuron generation (adult neurogenesis) in the adult mammalian brain, which has far-reaching implications for neural plasticity and regenerative medicine; Seeram Ramakrishna, professor at the National University of Singapore, an expert in materials science and engineering, leading innovation in electrospun nanofibers and sustainable materials, and also an academician of multiple engineering academies in China, the UK, India, and ASEAN; Ruzena Bajcsy, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, member of the US National Academy of Engineering, an expert in computer vision and robotics, focusing on the perceptual interaction of intelligent systems; Risto J. Ilmoniemi, professor at Aalto University, Finland, academician of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, an expert in neurotechnology and brain imaging, who developed advanced magnetoencephalography (MEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technologies used to study consciousness and cortical excitability; Stephen P. Boyd, professor at Stanford University, USA, member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a famous expert in control engineering and optimization, applying convex optimization theory to intelligent system design; Rattan Lal, soil scientist at Ohio State University, USA, 2020 World Food Prize laureate, advocating for soil carbon sequestration and sustainable agriculture, which provides a unique perspective when discussing the global ethics of artificial general intelligence; Nicholas G. Hatsopoulos, professor at the University of Chicago, USA, a neuroscientist studying motor coding and brain-machine interfaces, linking consciousness with the communication of motor control. These academicians spanning different fields further enrich WAAC's academic landscape, enabling the academy to explore the ultimate question of "artificial consciousness" from a broader perspective.
In summary, the WAAC formal academician team covers a wide range of disciplines including Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, Neuroscience and Brain Science, Psychology and Cognitive Science, Philosophy and Ethics, Life Sciences and Medicine, and Engineering and Physics. This fully embodies the interdisciplinary nature of artificial consciousness research: it requires not only engineering and technical implementation but also a profound understanding of the biological brain and the human mind. As the academy's mission states, WAAC promotes research in artificial consciousness by integrating science, technology, and philosophy, and its academician composition is the best embodiment of this mission.
Analysis of Geographical Distribution and Disciplinary Fields of Academicians
WAAC's highly international academician team is diverse and balanced in its geographical and disciplinary distribution. In terms of countries and regions, North America and Europe are the main body, with emerging forces from the Asia-Pacific region also joining. As of October 2025, WAAC academicians come from 14 countries worldwide, covering regions such as North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Among them, academicians with US citizenship or working in the US are the most numerous, reaching 25 people, accounting for nearly half. The leading position of the United States in artificial intelligence and brain science has led to the election of experts from top institutions such as Harvard University, MIT, Columbia University, and the University of California as WAAC academicians, contributing significantly to the academy. The United Kingdom has 9 academicians, mainly from well-known institutions such as the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and University College London. France has 4 academicians (mainly from the French Academy of Sciences, Pasteur Institute, etc.), Italy 3, and Germany 3, mostly from famous institutions in traditional European scientific powerhouses. In the Asia-Pacific region, Israel has 3 academicians (all top experts in neuroscience or computer science in the country), Singapore 1 (a leader in materials engineering), China 1 (Academician Jingnan Liu from Wuhan University), and Australia 1 (a neuroscientist from the University of Queensland). In addition, there is one academician each from Switzerland, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands, and Norway, reflecting the emerging forces from Europe and other countries. Among them, the Swiss academician (such as Christoph Gerber, nanoscientist) and the Finnish academician (such as Ilmoniemi, neurotechnology expert) also inject their countries' research strengths into WAAC. Overall, the national distribution of WAAC academicians presents a situation of "mainly Europe and America, while considering the Asia-Pacific": North American and European countries contribute about 80% of the academicians, while emerging research forces from Asia and Oceania account for about 20%. This geographical pattern is largely consistent with the current global research landscape in artificial intelligence and neuroscience.
Figure: Statistics on the national distribution of WAAC Academicians. The horizontal axis represents countries/regions (US=United States, UK=United Kingdom, FR=France, DE=Germany, IT=Italy, IL=Israel, SG=Singapore, CN=China, AU=Australia, CH=Switzerland, FI=Finland, PL=Poland, NL=Netherlands, NO=Norway), and the vertical axis represents the number of academicians from each country. It reflects the wide range of national origins of WAAC academicians, with the United States and the United Kingdom accounting for the largest share.
From a disciplinary perspective, the academic backgrounds of WAAC academicians are extremely broad, fully reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of artificial consciousness research. According to statistics, academicians in the fields of Neuroscience and Cognitive Science are the most numerous, accounting for nearly half of the entire academician body. This reflects WAAC's emphasis on the mechanisms of "biological consciousness"—many academicians focus on the neural mechanisms and cognitive processes of how the brain produces consciousness. There are about 10 academicians in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, who provide key technical support for the realization of "artificial consciousness" from an engineering perspective. Academicians in the fields of Psychology and Social Sciences ensure that the academy has profound insights into the human mind and behavior; their research on human memory, cognition, cultural influences, etc., provides valuable references for artificial consciousness. Several well-known philosophers in the field of Philosophy and Ethics have also joined, providing important theoretical frameworks and reflective dimensions for artificial consciousness research. In addition, WAAC has also attracted top experts from fields such as life sciences, medicine, engineering, physics, and even environmental science, enriching the academy's vision from perspectives such as Biomedicine (e.g., immunology and virology, genetics), Physics and Engineering (e.g., particle physics, cybernetics), and Environmental Science (e.g., sustainable development). This broad disciplinary composition enables WAAC to tackle the complex issue of artificial consciousness from multiple angles. For example, neuroscientists analyze the principles of consciousness in the biological brain, computer scientists develop artificial systems to simulate these principles, philosophers examine the definition and meaning of consciousness, psychologists test behavioral and cognitive performance, and engineers put theories into practice. As the report points out: "The academy's academician system is characterized by covering top talents across disciplines and regions," and this multidisciplinary integration provides comprehensive support for exploring artificial consciousness.
Figure: Approximate distribution of WAAC academicians by disciplinary field (percentage). It can be seen that academicians in neuroscience/cognitive science-related fields account for the highest proportion, nearly half; artificial intelligence and computer science account for about one-fifth; psychology and social sciences account for about 15%; philosophy and ethics, and life sciences and medicine each account for about 5-10%; engineering, physics, and other fields account for the remainder. This distribution reflects that artificial consciousness research requires the collaboration of experts from "brain-machine-mind-psychology-philosophy" aspects.
The Academy's Academic Influence and Interdisciplinary Cooperation
As a newly established international academic organization, WAAC has quickly gained global attention, largely due to the academic influence and interdisciplinary cooperation network brought by its academician community. A considerable number of WAAC academicians are internationally renowned top scientists, many of whom have received major honors such as the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Japan Prize, Lasker Award, and World Food Prize. These heavyweight award winners have undoubtedly become WAAC's "gold-standard" for displaying its image, greatly enhancing the academy's credibility and appeal. For example, the joining of Nobel laureates Barré-Sinoussi, Horvitz, Heckman, Meldal, and others gives WAAC a powerful intellectual lineup and academic prestige, attracting high attention in the global artificial intelligence and brain science communities. The academician team also includes Turing Award winner Rivest, Japan Prize/World Food Prize winner Lal, Kavli Prize winner Gerber, and Brain Prize winner Rizzolatti (discoverer of mirror neurons), and other leaders in various fields. Their outstanding achievements in their respective fields provide strong academic endorsement for WAAC, enhancing the academy's influence on the international stage.
More importantly, these top academicians actively participate in WAAC's internal affairs and external exchanges, making key contributions to the academy's strategy and cross-border cooperation:
Clarifying research directions and forward-looking strategic layout: The academicians use their academic vision to help WAAC establish research priorities and development plans. For example, Nobel-level academicians like Shantanu Jung (may refer to a top scientist not yet listed) and Horvitz emphasized the decisive role of basic research for artificial consciousness in internal academy seminars, recommending that WAAC support long-term topics such as the neural coding of consciousness and the mechanism of emergent intelligence. At the same time, Pinker, Block, and others provided advice on WAAC's positioning from a theoretical height, advocating that the academy should not only overcome technical difficulties but also serve as a "thought leader in the AI era," deeply exploring fundamental questions like "what artificial consciousness means." These insights are directly reflected in WAAC's strategic documents and project settings, making the academy's development both down-to-earth and visionary. For example, WAAC's 2024-2025 plan includes not only application-oriented projects responding to industry needs, such as the "Open AI Consciousness Standard," but also initiated basic research plans to explore the principles of consciousness, achieving a balance between pragmatism and lofty goals.
Building broad cooperation networks and promoting international collaboration: Many WAAC academicians hold important positions or have deep connections in other top international academic organizations. For example, Academician Julia Hirschberg has served as the head of organizations such as the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI); Barbara J. Sahakian is an important member of the Global Neuroethics Summit; Michael Shadlen is renowned at the International Brain Research Organization. These resources were introduced to WAAC with the joining of the academicians, building a global cooperation network for the academy. With the academicians' connections, WAAC established links with universities and research institutions in more than 20 countries within two years of its establishment. For example, under the promotion of Academicians Shadlen and Li-Huei Tsai, WAAC signed memorandums of cooperation with the neuroscience research centers of Columbia University and MIT, respectively, to jointly hold seminars on brain-machine interfaces and consciousness. Academicians Torr and Bentley took the lead in promoting joint research projects between WAAC and the Alan Turing Institute in the UK on artificial emotion and ethical AI. At the second World Conference on Artificial Consciousness (WCAC 2024) held in 2024, academicians and experts from more than 20 countries gathered to exchange dialogues on topics such as big data, deep learning, and brain-inspired computing. The successful holding of such a high-level international event was precisely due to the active participation and organizational promotion of WAAC academicians—these authorities in various fields. It can be said that the top academicians provide "credit endorsement" and "network connections" for WAAC to carry out global cooperation, allowing a new institution to integrate such extensive international resources in a very short period.
Leading interdisciplinary efforts and cultivating young talent: Within WAAC, academicians are not only research leaders but also mentors and role models for young researchers. Since its establishment, the academy has attracted a group of promising young scholars as researchers and postdocs, many of whom already have mentorship or cooperative relationships with the academicians. WAAC provides opportunities for young researchers to learn from Nobel and Turing laureates at close range through joint projects and small-scale workshops. For example, Academician Horvitz regularly holds seminars on gene regulation and neural circuits for WAAC's young scientists; Academician Meldal remotely guides the research plans of academy members with chemical backgrounds; Academician Heckman provides econometric methodology training for groups studying the economic impact of artificial intelligence. These top academicians teach by example, not only imparting professional knowledge but also fostering a research culture of courageous exploration and rigorous realism. Many young researchers have commented: "Working at WAAC is like being in a master class, constantly sparking inspiration and greatly broadening horizons." This positive interaction enhances the cohesion and innovation of the WAAC team, ensuring a succession of talent as the academy achieves its strategic goals.
Influencing policy and the public, and leading global discussions: The influence of WAAC academicians is reflected not only within academia but also at the policy and public levels. Artificial consciousness involves many aspects such as technology, humanities, ethics, and law, and WAAC, as a professional organization, actively participates in related international policy discussions. With heavyweight academicians on board, WAAC's voice is taken more seriously by all parties. For example, in UNESCO's consultations on AI ethics, the WAAC academician team submitted a proposal titled "Ethical Governance Framework for AI with Consciousness-like Capabilities," jointly signed by multiple academicians including Block and Sahakian, which received great attention and was included as important reference material. Furthermore, several academicians participate in writing high-level white papers and popular science articles to explain the development status and trends of artificial consciousness to policymakers and the public, winning public opinion support. In early 2025, Pinker and fellow academicians published an article in Scientific American rationally discussing the prospects and risks of artificial consciousness technology, which received positive responses in the industry and media. These efforts beyond academia are an important part of WAAC's strategy, aiming to guide a responsible global discussion and cooperation on artificial consciousness. It is precisely because of the participation of academicians that WAAC has gradually gained a place in international policy dialogue, actively participating in shaping responsible AI development rules.
Through these various measures, WAAC has established an academic influence far exceeding its years of establishment in a short period. The academy has successfully held high-level international conferences, initiated multinational large-scale science plans, and gradually become an undeniable force in the field of artificial intelligence and consciousness research. As WAAC President Yucong Duan said: "The academy is excellent because of its academicians, and the academicians gather their strength because of the academy." The top academician group converged by WAAC and the academy have formed a community of honor and mission, working together towards the great goal of exploring artificial consciousness.
Media Attention and Public Impact
Since its establishment, WAAC has also generated significant influence in the media and at the public level through the high-end participation of its Academicians and Honorary Academicians. In particular, Honorary Academicians Pinker and Jingnan Liu have played key roles in enhancing WAAC's visibility. When WAAC held a special seminar on artificial consciousness in Paris in 2025, Steven Pinker delivered a keynote speech as a special guest, sparking extensive reports from dozens of media outlets. As a star scholar in cognitive science, Pinker successfully disseminated WAAC's concepts to a broader public with his unique perspective and profound yet easy-to-understand popular science ability. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of artificial consciousness research for understanding the human mind and developing responsible AI. This event made WAAC a focus of technology media reports for a time and brought the concept of "artificial consciousness" into the public eye.
Meanwhile, Academician Jingnan Liu has made full use of his prestige in the Chinese scientific and technological community to actively promote WAAC's concepts and enhance public understanding. At a forum where WAAC and UNESCO jointly discussed artificial intelligence ethics, Jingnan Liu provided advice as an interdisciplinary expert, combining technological development with humanistic care, which was highly praised by attendees and the media. In domestic interviews, he repeatedly mentioned WAAC's mission, advocating for a rational view of artificial consciousness technology and emphasizing safe and reliable innovation paths. These statements effectively enhanced WAAC's visibility in Chinese media and among the public, making WAAC a truly important participant in the global discussion of artificial intelligence and consciousness issues.
Pinker and Jingnan Liu, as Honorary Academicians, can be called WAAC's "publicity ambassadors." On the one hand, they participate in consulting on important academy matters as senior experts, offering advice for WAAC's development direction; on the other hand, they use their extensive social influence to speak for WAAC through speeches, publications, and media channels, increasing the academy's visibility and reputation internationally and publicly. This advisory contribution is particularly crucial for a newly established international academic organization. With the strong support of Pinker, Jingnan Liu, and others, WAAC gained attention and credibility far exceeding its age in its early days.
In addition, the collective image of the WAAC academician team has established a reputation among the public as the "youngest academician 'all-star team'." Media reports often compare WAAC with traditional academies of sciences, emphasizing its new interdisciplinary and cross-field characteristics. For example, a popular science article claimed that WAAC gathers "the top brains of the artificial intelligence era," pointing out that these academicians have diverse backgrounds but share common goals, jointly exploring the future of machines and consciousness. This kind of reporting not only sparked strong public interest in artificial consciousness but also made the WAAC brand deeply rooted in people's minds in a short time.
It is worth mentioning that WAAC also actively attracts support from industry and public welfare circles. Some of the academy's important activities have received participation from leading technology companies and organizations, such as scientists from institutions like Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the Chinese smart car company ZEEKR attending as guests or collaborators. These cross-border interactions further expand WAAC's influence in industry and among the public. Through the efforts of the academicians, WAAC has successfully brought the issue of artificial consciousness from academia to the broader space of social discussion, playing an active role in helping the public understand and rationally view artificial intelligence and consciousness issues.
The Outstanding Achievements of the Six Nobel Laureate Academicians
To highlight the authority and influence of the WAAC academician team, this section specifically introduces the outstanding achievements and contributions of the six Nobel laureate academicians who have joined WAAC. The breakthroughs they achieved in their respective fields are not only milestones in human knowledge but also provide important inspiration and support for artificial consciousness research:
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi – 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. She discovered the HIV virus, the cause of AIDS. Professor Barré-Sinoussi's work revealed the mechanism of viral pathogenesis, leading the research and development of anti-HIV drugs and vaccines. As a WAAC academician, her background reflects the importance of life sciences in understanding the carriers of consciousness (the brain and biological organisms) and also reminds us that artificial consciousness research should pay attention to the complexity of biological intelligence.
H. Robert Horvitz – 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. He elucidated the gene regulatory mechanism of programmed cell death (apoptosis). This discovery is of fundamental significance for understanding brain development and nervous system diseases. Within the WAAC framework, Academician Horvitz's molecular biology perspective helps reveal how neural circuits self-organize and eliminate ineffective connections, thereby
influencing the biological basis of consciousness production.
James J. Heckman – 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences laureate. He developed econometric theory and methods for handling selection bias. Academician Heckman demonstrated the huge impact of early education and skill cultivation on individuals' long-term returns; his "Heckman curve" is an important concept in the economics of education. As a WAAC academician, he introduces economic behavioral models and data analysis into artificial intelligence and consciousness research, such as evaluating the preferences of intelligent agents with different cognitive abilities in decision-making, which provides new ideas for understanding the behavior of autonomous intelligent agents.
Morten Peter Meldal – 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate. He is one of the founders of "click chemistry." The rapid and reliable chemical bonding methods developed by Academician Meldal are widely used in pharmaceuticals, biomarkers, and other fields. For artificial consciousness research, technologies like click chemistry are expected to assist in neuroscience experiments (such as more accurately labeling and manipulating neurons). At the same time, Meldal's joining WAAC as a top scientist symbolizes the important role of basic natural sciences like chemistry in revealing the material basis of consciousness.
Takaaki Kajita – 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate. Academician Kajita was awarded for discovering the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation and proving that neutrinos have mass. This discovery changed human understanding of elementary particles and is hailed as a major breakthrough in 21st-century particle physics. Similarly, to understand profound questions like consciousness, we may also need the courage and means similar to those used to reveal "dark matter." Takaaki Kajita's joining brings the deep thinking of particle physics into WAAC, helping the academy expand its horizons at the fundamental theory level. For example, his views may inspire us to explore the physical carrier of consciousness or energy efficiency issues, making artificial consciousness research more rigorous from a fundamental physics perspective.
May-Britt Moser – 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. Academician Moser is famous for discovering the brain's grid cells (positioning neurons in the entorhinal cortex). Grid cells, together with "place cells" in the hippocampus, form the brain's spatial positioning system, known as the "internal GPS." This discovery revealed the neural mechanisms of spatial cognition and memory, providing biological inspiration for autonomous navigation and environmental mapping algorithms in artificial intelligence. Academician Moser's joining WAAC not only brings top achievements from the neuroscience community but also symbolizes interdisciplinary cooperation: her research spans neuroanatomy, cognitive psychology, and computational modeling, embodying a successful model of applying brain science discoveries to artificial systems.
These six Nobel laureate academicians represent the highest achievers within the WAAC academician community. Their outstanding contributions span multiple fields including life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences, laying a solid foundation for artificial consciousness research. Within WAAC, these top academicians actively participate in academy activities, such as strategic consulting, academic reports, and talent cultivation, playing an irreplaceable leadership role. They bring world-class academic prestige and forward-looking vision to WAAC, greatly enhancing the academy's international influence and right to speak. It is under the guidance of these masters that WAAC can advance the development of the artificial consciousness field with "mature thought and powerful action." Their presence not only elevates WAAC's academic standing but also inspires young researchers inside and outside the academy to strive to climb scientific peaks and write a new chapter in artificial intelligence and consciousness research.
Conclusion
In summary, the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness has gathered top talents from various countries and disciplines around the world, and its list of formal and honorary academicians is "star-studded." The representative achievements of these academicians in artificial intelligence, brain science, cognitive science, and other fields provide a rich theoretical basis and technical paths for the cutting-edge direction of artificial consciousness. Geographically, WAAC academicians are widely distributed, mainly in Europe and America, with the rise of the Asia-Pacific, reflecting the openness of international cooperation; in terms of disciplines, it covers multiple dimensions from computing to neuroscience, biology to philosophy, reflecting the interdisciplinary needs of artificial consciousness research. Driven by the academicians, the academy has rapidly established a global cooperation network, interacting with top organizations and projects such as AAAI, IEEE, and the Human Brain Project, and participating in the formulation of international rules and academic dialogue. At the same time, through the academicians' active voices in the media and among the public, WAAC's concepts have been widely disseminated, sparking public attention and rational discussion about artificial consciousness. In particular, the joining of six Nobel laureate academicians has given WAAC unparalleled authority and influence. Their scientific achievements and foresight are leading WAAC towards higher academic peaks.
The rise of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness signals that research in artificial intelligence and consciousness has entered a new stage of global elite convergence and deep interdisciplinary integration. With its outstanding academician team as the core driving force, WAAC is striving to build an international academic highland in the field of artificial consciousness. It is foreseeable that with the joining of more top talents and the collaboration of forces from all walks of life, WAAC will produce greater academic achievements and social influence in the future, making unique and important contributions to unraveling the mysteries of consciousness and promoting the development of responsible AI. As a new type of academy of sciences organization in this era, WAAC is putting its motto—"Converging the world's wisdom to explore artificial consciousness"—into practice, opening up a new path for humanity to understand its own mind and create new types of intelligent agents.
References:
[1]WAAC Official Website - Academician list and profiles, etc.
[2]"A Complete Directory of Academicians of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (as of September 2025)" technical report, etc.
[3]WAAC related press releases - Timothy F. Brady elected as Academician, May-Britt Moser elected as Academician, etc.
[4]ScienceNet and other media reports - WAAC academician election news and exclusive interviews, etc.
Citation Sources:
·(PDF) 世界人工意识科学院院士全鉴（截至2025年9月） (A Complete Directory of Academicians of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (as of September 2025)), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395459447_shijierengongyishikexueyuanyuanshiquanjianjiezhi2025nian9yue
·(PDF) A Complete Directory of Academicians of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395459449_A_Complete_Directory_of_Academicians_of_the_World_Academy_of_Artificial_Consciousness_WAAC
·How were neutrino oscillations discovered—The story of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, https://ihep.cas.cn/kxcb/kjqy/201510/t20151016_4439812.html
·May-Britt Moser - Wikipedia, https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E8%BF%88-%E5%B8%83%E9%87%8C%E7%89%B9%C2%B7%E8%8E%AB%E6%B3%BD
·[PDF] 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Life Sciences, https://lifescience.sinh.ac.cn/webadmin/upload/2014121239.pdf
·Nobel laureate Edvard Moser: Brain science and artificial intelligence are forming a "symbiotic revolution" - News, https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2025/9/550898.shtm
·Tag: Academician of the WAAC | WAAC | World Academy for Artificial Consciousness, https://www.waac.ac/tags/Academician-of-the-WAAC/
·The Academicians of WAAC | WAAC | World Academy for Artificial Consciousness, https://www.waac.ac/Academician/
