Ted Lechterman

Dr. Theodore “Ted” Lechterman holds the UNESCO Chair in AI Ethics & Governance at IE University, where he is Assistant Professor of Philosophy. Lechterman’s research spans political philosophy and applied ethics, with particular interests in the relationship between artificial intelligence and democratic ideals, the responsibilities of technology companies, and the ethics of private efforts to address public problems. His work appears in outlets such as the Oxford Handbook of AI Governance, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Journal of Business Ethics, Organization Studies, and History of Political Thought. His first book, The Tyranny of Generosity: Why Philanthropy Corrupts Our Politics and How We Can Fix It (Oxford University Press, 2022), received an honorable mention for the ECPR Political Theory Prize. A second book, tentatively titled Recoding Democracy: AI and the Fight for Democracy’s Future, is under contract with Polity Press. His teaching ranges widely across disciplines and levels and has been awarded for its innovative pedagogy. He is a member of UNESCO AI Ethics Experts Without Borders, an officer of the ECPR Political Theory Standing Group, and a managing director of the Compass Ethics consulting network. He frequently contributes to public debates and advises organizations on navigating ethical frontiers in business, technology, and governance. He holds degrees from Harvard (A.B.) and Princeton (M.A., Ph.D.) and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford, Goethe, Hertie, and Oxford, where he was an inaugural fellow at the Institute for Ethics in AI.