Subir Chowdhury
Thinkers50 Most Influential Management Thinker | BusinessWeek's 'Quality Prophet' | Chairman & CEO of ASI Consulting Group | Bestselling Author
Anil Seth
Professor & Director, Centre for Consciousness Science, U. of Sussex | Bestselling Author of Being You | TED Speaker | AI, Mind & the Science of Consciousness
Anil Seth is one of the world's leading neuroscientists on consciousness and how the brain constructs reality and the self. 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 keynotes challenge how senior audiences think about the mind, AI, and human identity.
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Anil Seth biography
Anil Seth ranks among the world’s foremost authorities on the science of consciousness and Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he directs the Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the CIFAR Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness. With more than 200 research papers and a place among the top 0.1% of researchers worldwide by Web of Science, speaker Anil Seth pairs the highest scientific standing with a rare gift for public communication.
Seth is best known for describing consciousness as a form of “controlled hallucination”: the brain does not passively receive the world but actively predicts and constructs it. It reframes the deepest questions of human experience, from the self to reality. His 2017 TED talk, Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality, has passed fifteen million views and ranks among the most-watched science talks in TED’s history, with a second talk carrying his total past sixteen million. Aurum Speakers Bureau represents him alongside other leading science speakers.
His 2021 book, Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, was an instant Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller and a Book of the Year for The Economist, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times. Translated into more than a dozen languages, it brought the science of consciousness to a global readership. He also edited the bestselling 30 Second Brain and writes for Aeon, The Guardian, New Scientist, and Scientific American.
Recognition at the Frontier of Science and Philosophy
Seth’s work has earned recognition across scientific and public spheres. In 2023 the Royal Society awarded him its Michael Faraday Prize, the UK’s foremost honor for science communication, and Prospect Magazine named him one of its Top 25 Global Thinkers for 2024. He won the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition, chosen from roughly 3,000 entries across more than 120 countries, for “The Mythology of Conscious AI.” He was lead scientist on the public arts project Dreamachine and, in 2025, became a patron of Humanists UK.
As a speaker, Anil Seth pairs scientific authority with genuine curiosity. He addresses the neuroscience of consciousness, the nature of selfhood, the relationship between AI and the human mind, and what brain research means for leadership and decision-making. His talks invite audiences to question lifelong assumptions and rethink 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? Anil Seth examines how the brain assembles our sense of self from the inside out, moment by moment. Drawing on cognitive neuroscience, he makes the case that the self is not a fixed entity but a continuous prediction, the brain's best model of the body it works to keep alive. He shows how perception, memory, and personal identity are actively built rather than passively received, and what that means for how we understand free will, decision-making, and human consciousness. Audiences leave with a strikingly fresh perspective on what it means to be a self in the world.
Based on one of the most-watched science talks in the history of TED, this keynote presents Seth's central argument: we do not experience the world as it objectively is, but the brain's best guess about it. Every conscious moment is a controlled hallucination, shaped by expectation and corrected by incoming sensory signals. Seth explores why people can perceive the same event so differently, and how disruptions to this predictive process underlie experiences from psychosis to altered states. For business audiences, the framework opens new ways of thinking about perception, judgment, bias, and the limits of decision-making.
Consciousness was long considered beyond the reach of science. Anil Seth argues that this is no longer the case, and that what researchers are learning carries profound implications. He distinguishes the different dimensions of conscious experience, shows how experimental neuroscience is mapping the neural basis of awareness and selfhood, and examines what happens when these systems break down in neurological and psychiatric conditions. He also confronts the question now sitting between science and technology: what does consciousness science tell us about the prospect of conscious AI, and why does getting it right matter so much for the choices we make today?
Anil Seth goes deeper into what gives rise to the felt experience of being alive and aware. Drawing on his own research and on psychology, control theory, and evolutionary biology, he argues that conscious selfhood is rooted in the brain's constant effort to regulate the body, so that the experience of being you is inseparable from the biological drive to survive. The perspective reaches far: into how we think about emotion and intuition in leadership, how we connect physical and mental wellbeing, and what, if anything, artificial systems might ever truly experience.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Anil Seth
Why Anil Seth?
Booking Anil Seth brings one of the world's most respected neuroscientists to your stage, a scientist whose ideas have changed how millions of people understand consciousness, reality, and what it means to be human. A TED speaker with more than sixteen million views, a Royal Society Faraday Prize laureate, and winner of the 2025 Berggruen Prize for his landmark essay on AI and consciousness, Seth offers a rare mix of intellectual depth and outstanding communication. For senior audiences wrestling with AI, human identity, and the future of decision-making, his perspective 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?
Seth's central contribution is the idea that conscious experience is a form of controlled hallucination: the brain's best guess about the causes of sensory information, rather than a direct readout of reality. In this view, perception, selfhood, and the sense of being a conscious agent are all predictions the brain generates to serve biological survival. Developed over two decades of experimental research, the theory offers a scientifically tractable alternative to the idea that consciousness is an unsolvable mystery. His TED talk and his book Being You have carried the framework to audiences of millions.
What does Anil Seth say about AI consciousness?
Anil Seth is among the most influential scientific voices questioning the assumption that advanced AI 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 rather than of sophisticated information processing alone. He cautions against both projecting consciousness onto AI and assuming it is impossible. For senior audiences shaping AI strategy and ethics, his perspective offers a scientifically grounded way to think through these questions while the stakes are high.
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 what consciousness science means for leadership and decision-making. His keynotes are regularly tailored for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, financial institutions, technology organizations, and leadership summits where the meeting 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.
