James Hughes Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and a bioethicist and sociologist who serves as the Associate Provost for Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning for the University of Massachusetts Boston. He holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago, where he also taught bioethics at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Dr. Hughes is author of Citizen Cyborg and co-editor of Surviving the Machine Age. This Chat was made possible by MindFest 2025: "Sentience, Autonomy, and the Future of Human-AI Interaction", a two-day event presented by the Center for the Future Mind.