Dvija
Mehta
AI Ethics & Philosophy of Mind

Dvija Mehta

Roles
AI Ethicist & Neuro-Ethicist
Philosopher of Consciousness
BCI Researcher
Ventures
Founder, Arqadia AI
Deep-Tech BCI Startup
PhD, Cambridge

My work centres on the ethics of technological tool use — how AI systems and brain-computer interfaces become integrated into cognition, reshaping belief structures and the doxastic authorities that drive action.

Correspondence View Publications →
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AI Ethics Neuro-Ethics Philosophy of Mind Brain-Computer Interfaces Consciousness Cognitive Liberty Arqadia AI Belief Offloading Contemplation Conundrum AI Ethics Neuro-Ethics Philosophy of Mind Brain-Computer Interfaces Consciousness Cognitive Liberty Arqadia AI Belief Offloading Contemplation Conundrum
Dvija Mehta

Cambridge, 2024

About

At the
intersection of
mind, machine
& morality.

01
Background

Dvija Mehta is an AI ethicist, neuro-ethicist, and philosopher of mind at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores the normative implications of emerging technologies and how they reshape human cognition, agency, and self-understanding.

02
Ventures

Founder & CEO of Arqadia AI, leading a deep-tech stealth BCI startup. Her entrepreneurial work bridges cutting-edge neuroscience research with scalable technology, aiming to develop ethically grounded brain-computer interfaces.

03
Academic

PhD Researcher in the Ethics of Human-AI Interaction & Philosophy of Science. Convener of the Kinds of Intelligence Reading Group at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, exploring artificial intelligence, consciousness, and cognitive science.

Research
Areas

03 Domains
i

AI Ethics & Governance

Examining the normative frameworks that govern the design, deployment, and regulation of artificial intelligence systems in democratic societies. From algorithmic bias to AI autonomy, interrogating the moral foundations of computational decision-making.

ii

Neuro-Ethics & BCIs

Investigating the ethical implications of brain-computer interfaces — from cognitive liberty and mental privacy to the augmentation of human cognition. Central to this work is the Contemplation Conundrum: what happens when thought itself becomes a tool interface, blurring the boundary between intentional action and involuntary neural output.

iii

Philosophy of Mind

Probing the nature of consciousness, subjective experience, and whether machine intelligence could ever be genuinely sentient or morally considerable.

“

When we merge mind and machine, the traditional borders of the self dissipate.

Dvija Mehta — BBC Future, 2024

Selected
Writing

Academic publications, public writing, and preprints exploring the ethical dimensions of emerging technologies.

25
Oxford Open Neuroscience

BCI Tool Use & the Contemplation Conundrum: Mental Action, Agency & Control

“Under some theories of intentional action, certain BCI-mediated overt movements qualify as both voluntary and unintentional.”

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24
BBC Future

Why Neuralink's Brain Implant Reframes Self-Identity

When a device reads and writes directly to the brain, the boundary between self and tool begins to dissolve.

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26
arXiv Preprint

Belief Offloading in Human-AI Interaction

“People's processes of forming and upholding beliefs are offloaded onto an AI system with downstream consequences on behavior.”

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24
Cambridge Journal of AI

Artificial Creativity & the Incomplete Aesthetic Experience

Exploring the phenomenological dimensions of creativity that computational systems lack — the “what it is like-ness” unique to lived experience.

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Appearances
& Media

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BBC Radio 4

Moral Maze: AI — The End of Humanity?

Commentary on the creative intelligence of computational AI, explaining that limitations in expressive art stem from the absence of consciousness and subjective experience.

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TEDx Talk

Ethical AI: Why It Matters & What's at Stake

Exploring how AI learns from our biases, the risks of opaque models, and the challenge of Social AI — machines designed to simulate empathy and consciousness.

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CBC Podcast

Understood: The Making of Musk

Discussion of Neuralink's N1 implant, the Contemplation Conundrum, and the cyberpunk vision of a future where mind and machine intertwine.

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Interview

Will AI Make Art & Artists Obsolete?

A conversation exploring the future of aesthetics, examining the “what it is like-ness” argument for uniquely human creativity and phenomenological experience.

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Interview

Can Machines Be Conscious?

Exploring access versus phenomenal consciousness and whether consciousness could ever arise in artificial intelligence — and what that would mean for moral status.

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Talks & Seminars

July 2024 — Tokyo

Neuro-ethics of BCIs & the Contemplation Conundrum

ASSC-27

May 2024 — Cambridge

The Neuro-Ethics of Brain-Computer Interface Tool Use

Darwin College Seminar Series

April 2024 — Cambridge

Mental Action, Affordances & Attribution

Cambridge Neuroscience, 34th Annual Conference

June 2023 — New York

Encoding Suffering: A Step Towards Phenomenology in AI

ASSC-26

February 2023 — Cambridge

Quantifying Creative Intelligence in Generative Models

Darwin College Science Seminar Series

June 2022 — Cambridge

Phenomenal Consciousness

Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence

Open for
dialogue.

Whether for academic collaboration, speaking engagements, media inquiries, or to explore ideas at the frontier of AI and philosophy.

* Response within 3–5 working days