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We are pleased to announce that Diana Reiss—professor at the City University of New York and an animal cognition scientist—has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness in recognition of her foundational work on dolphin mirror self-recognition, interspecies communication, and animal consciousness.
Over many years, Professor Reiss has used systematic experimental paradigms to reveal self-representation and social cognition in nonhuman animals: with collaborators, she reported in PNAS (2001) the first demonstration of mirror self-recognition (MSR) in bottlenose dolphins; subsequently documented MSR in Asian elephants in PNAS (2006); and, in PLOS ONE (2018), showed that juvenile dolphins exhibit early markers of self-awareness. These findings expand the comparative-cognition boundaries of the “self” and provide cross-species reference points for research on the origins and evolution of consciousness.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
Academicians of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness hail from institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter. Honorary Academicians come from a wide range of countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. In addition, leading scientists from prominent research institutes and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and ZEEKR—also participate.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.