TOBY ORD is a moral philosopher at Oxford University and a senior research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute. His work focuses on the big picture questions facing humanity.
Toby's earlier work explored the ethics of global health and global poverty, demonstrating that aid has been highly successful on average and has the potential to be even more successful if we were to improve our priority setting. This led him to create an international society called Giving What We Can, whose members have pledged over $1.4 billion to the most effective charities helping to improve the world. He also co-founded the wider effective altruism movement, encouraging thousands of people to use reason and evidence to help others as much as possible.
His current research is on avoiding the threat of human extinction and thus safeguarding a positive future for humanity, which he considers to be among the most pressing and neglected issues we face. He is an expert on the potential threats and opportunities posed by advanced artificial intelligence over the coming decades.
Ord has advised the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Office, and Government Office for Science. His work has been featured more than a hundred times in the national and international media.
He is the author of The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.
