Dr Ted Lechterman joined the Institute as a Research Fellow in 2020 and from October 2021 was also a Research Fellow at Wolfson College. His research addresses problems in applied ethics from the perspective of political philosophy.
Lechterman was trained at Harvard and Princeton and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford, Goethe-Universität, and the Hertie School. He regularly advises organizations and contributes to public debates in North America and Europe.
Lechterman’s research investigates what makes democracy valuable and how that value applies to different practices and agents. His current work considers the challenges and opportunities that AI creates for democratic theory. Does the promise of non-human superintelligence undermine reigning justifications of democratic governance? How should authority over AI design decisions be distributed? How, if at all, should AI be applied to repair or enhance democratic processes? Outside of AI, he has written extensively on how democratic values apply to private initiatives to promote the public good. His first book, The Tyranny of Generosity: Why Philanthropy Corrupts Our Politics and How We Can Fix It, was published by Oxford University Press in 2021.