Herman Cappelen is a Chair Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong, where he directs the AI & Humanity Lab and the MA program in AI, Ethics, and Society. He is recognized for his pioneering work in conceptual engineering, the philosophy of language, philosophical methodology, and the philosophy of artificial intelligence. He is the author of eleven influential monographs, including Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering (OUP, 2018) which established new methodologies for improving our conceptual frameworks, and Making AI Intelligible: Philosophical Essays (OUP, 2021) which explores how humans and AIs share concepts and communicate. His most recent book The Concept of Democracy: An Essay on Conceptual Amelioration and Abandonment (OUP 2023) illustrates how we can radically rethink fundamental political concepts.

Cappelen’s Berggruen project is called "After 'Consciousness': Why It's Time to Abandon the C-Word.” The project challenges the very foundations of how we think about machine sentience. Rather than asking whether AIs can be conscious, he proposes abandoning this conceptually flawed question entirely and developing new terminologies that enable more productive inquiries about artificial minds. The project includes organizing cross-disciplinary workshops bringing together philosophers, AI researchers, and engineers to develop better frameworks for understanding AI cognition, as well as engaging with the Chinese AI community to explore how different cultural contexts might inform these new conceptual approaches.