Toby Ord

In this course

Toby Ord is a philosopher and prominent figure in effective altruism and longtermism whose work frames AI development as a potential existential risk deserving prioritization in ethical decision-making. The course readings invoke him primarily through the longtermist logic that values astronomical future outcomes, which shapes how contemporary AI research is rationalized and resourced—and simultaneously critiqued as part of the "TESCREAL bundle" for its utopian promises and disregard for present harms. His ideas thus become central to understanding both how technologists justify AGI research and how critics contest the values embedded in that justification.

Mentioned in 1 reading