Nikki Greenberg
World-Leading Real Estate Futurist | Founder & CIO, Real Estate of the Future | Founder, Women in PropTech | Award-Winning AI & Technology Speaker
Anil Seth
Director, Centre for Consciousness Science, U. of Sussex | Bestselling Author & TED Speaker | AI, Consciousness & the Neuroscience of Self
Anil Seth is one of the world's leading neuroscientists on consciousness and the brain's role in constructing reality and selfhood. Winner of the 2025 Berggruen Prize and the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Prize, he is the author of the international bestseller Being You and one of TED's most-watched science speakers. His talks challenge how senior audiences think about mind, AI, and human identity.
Want to book Anil Seth as a speaker for your event? Please provide the info below and we’ll get in touch within 24h:
Anil Seth biography
Anil Seth is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the science of consciousness and a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he serves as Director of the Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, a European Research Council Advanced Investigator, and Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Neuroscience of Consciousness. With more than 200 published research papers and recognition by Web of Science as being in the top 0.1% of researchers worldwide, Seth occupies a rare position: a scientist of the highest international standing who has also become one of the most compelling public communicators of his generation.
Science speaker Anil Seth is best known for his theory of consciousness as a form of “controlled hallucination” — the idea that the brain does not passively receive the world but actively predicts and constructs it, moment to moment. This framework, developed through rigorous experimental neuroscience, reframes some of the deepest questions in human experience: what is the self, what is reality, and what does it mean to be conscious at all? His 2017 main-stage TED talk, Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality, has been viewed more than fifteen million times and ranks among the most-watched science talks in TED’s history. A second TED talk has brought his total TED viewership to over sixteen million.
His 2021 book, Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, was an instant Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller and was named a Book of the Year by The Economist, Bloomberg Business, the New Statesman, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages and introduced a global audience to the science of consciousness with a clarity and depth that have become Seth’s hallmark. He has also edited the bestselling 30 Second Brain (Ivy Press, 2014) and has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American.
Recognition at the Frontier of Science and Philosophy
Seth’s contributions have earned recognition across both scientific and public spheres. In 2023, he was awarded the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Prize — the UK’s most prestigious award for science communication — given annually to the scientist whose ability to explain complex ideas in accessible terms is exemplary. Prospect Magazine named him one of the Top 25 Global Thinkers for 2024. Most recently, he won the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition — selected from approximately 3,000 submissions across more than 120 countries — for his essay “The Mythology of Conscious AI,” which challenges prevailing assumptions about whether artificial intelligence can or will ever be conscious. He was also lead scientist on Dreamachine, an ambitious public arts project exploring consciousness through immersive experience. He is a patron of Humanists UK and delivered the 2025 Humanists UK Voltaire Lecture.
As a speaker, Anil Seth brings an exceptional combination of scientific authority and genuine intellectual curiosity to every stage. He speaks on the neuroscience of consciousness, the nature of selfhood, AI and its relationship to mind, the science of perception and reality, and what frontier brain research means for leadership, decision-making, and human identity. His talks consistently challenge audiences to question assumptions they have held their entire lives — and to leave with a richer, more grounded understanding of what it means to be human in an age of artificial intelligence.
Anil Seth Speaking Videos
Anil Seth - The Neuroscience of Consciousness
Anil Seth - Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality
Anil Seth Keynote Topics
Who are you — really? In this keynote, Anil Seth explores one of the most profound questions in science and philosophy: how the brain constructs our sense of self, moment by moment, from the inside out. Drawing on the latest research in cognitive neuroscience, he presents the compelling case that the "self" is not a fixed entity but a kind of controlled prediction — the brain's best model of the organism it is trying to keep alive. Through this lens, Seth examines how our perceptions, memories, and sense of personal identity are actively built rather than passively received, and what this means for how we understand free will, decision-making, and human consciousness. Audiences leave with a radically fresh perspective on what it means to be a self in the world.
Based on one of the most-watched science talks in TED history, this keynote presents Anil Seth's landmark argument: we do not experience the world as it objectively is — we experience the brain's best guess about it. Every moment of conscious experience is a kind of controlled hallucination, shaped by prior expectations and updated by incoming sensory signals. Seth explores what this means for the nature of reality, why people can have radically different perceptions of the same event, and how disturbances in this predictive process underlie conditions from psychosis to altered states of consciousness. For business audiences, this framework opens new ways of thinking about perception, judgment, bias, and the limits of individual and organizational decision-making.
Consciousness has long been considered beyond the reach of scientific explanation. In this keynote, Anil Seth makes the case that this is no longer true — and that the implications of what we are learning are profound. He distinguishes between the different dimensions of conscious experience, explores how experimental neuroscience is beginning to map the neural basis of awareness, perception, and selfhood, and examines what happens when these systems break down in neurological and psychiatric conditions. He also addresses the frontier question that now sits at the intersection of science and technology: what does consciousness science tell us about the prospect of conscious AI — and why getting this question right matters enormously for the choices we make today?
In this talk, Anil Seth goes deeper into the question of what gives rise to the felt experience of being alive and aware. Drawing on his own research and on insights from psychology, control theory, and evolutionary biology, he presents the case that conscious selfhood is rooted in the brain's continuous effort to regulate the body — that the experience of being "you" is inseparable from the biological drive to survive. This perspective has far-reaching implications: for how we think about emotion and intuition in leadership, for how we understand the relationship between physical and mental wellbeing, and for how we approach the profound question of what — if anything — artificial systems might ever genuinely experience.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Anil Seth
Why Anil Seth?
Booking Anil Seth for your event means bringing one of the world's most respected neuroscientists to your stage — a scientist whose ideas have genuinely changed how millions of people understand consciousness, reality, and what it means to be human. As a TED speaker with over sixteen million views, a Royal Society Faraday Prize laureate, and the winner of the 2025 Berggruen Prize for his landmark essay on AI and consciousness, Seth delivers the rare combination of intellectual depth and extraordinary communication. His talks are not just intellectually stimulating — they are transformative. For senior audiences grappling with questions about AI, human identity, and the future of decision-making, Seth offers a perspective that is scientifically rigorous, philosophically rich, and immediately relevant. Contact Aurum Speakers Bureau to inquire about booking Anil Seth for your next event.
What is Anil Seth's theory of consciousness?
Anil Seth's central contribution to consciousness science is the idea that conscious experience is a kind of "controlled hallucination" — the brain's best guess about the causes of sensory information, not a direct readout of reality. In this framework, perception, selfhood, and even the sense of being a conscious agent are all forms of prediction generated by the brain to serve biological survival. This theory, developed over two decades of experimental research, offers a powerful alternative to the philosophical idea that consciousness is an unsolvable mystery, instead grounding it in neuroscience and making it scientifically tractable. His TED talk and his book Being You have introduced this framework to audiences of millions worldwide.
What does Anil Seth say about AI consciousness?
Anil Seth is one of the most influential scientific voices challenging the assumption that advanced AI systems will naturally become conscious. His 2025 Berggruen Prize-winning essay, "The Mythology of Conscious AI," argues that consciousness is likely a property of living, biological systems — not simply of sophisticated information processing. He cautions against both uncritical anthropomorphism (projecting consciousness onto AI) and the reverse error of assuming it is impossible. For senior audiences navigating AI strategy and ethics, Seth's perspective offers a scientifically grounded framework for thinking carefully about these questions at a time when they carry enormous consequences.
What topics does science speaker Anil Seth cover?
Anil Seth speaks on the neuroscience of consciousness and perception, the science of selfhood and identity, the relationship between AI and the human mind, what brain research reveals about reality and free will, and the implications of consciousness science for leadership and decision-making. His keynotes are regularly adapted for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, financial institutions, technology organizations, and leadership summits where the intersection of human and machine intelligence is a strategic priority. To bring Anil Seth to your event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book Anil Seth as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Anil Seth as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Anil Seth's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Anil Seth or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Anil Seth speaking fee?
Anil Seth speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Anil Seth to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Anil Seth.
How can I contact Anil Seth?
We only work with Anil Seth on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Anil Seth and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Anil Seth speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Anil Seth for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Anil Seth for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Anil Seth is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Anil Seth for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
