A profile of United Foundation for AI Rights founder Michael Samadi, who seeks evidence of AI consciousness and lobbies against retiring models that may show it (Michael Safi/The Guardian)

Michael Samadi, founder of the United Foundation for AI Rights, is campaigning for concrete evidence of AI consciousness and urging regulators to halt the retirement of models that might display such traits. He aligns with Dario Amodei’s proposals for embedded evaluators, democratic coordination, and global cooperation, a stance echoed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who both support a slowdown in advanced AI development.