Peter Singer
Moral philosopher who argues how AI develops should depend on what reduces suffering
Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Known for Animal Liberation (1975), Practical Ethics, and The Life You Can Save, and for founding the effective-altruism-adjacent charity movement. He is a utilitarian who writes about global poverty, animal welfare and, more recently, risks from advanced AI.
Key arguments & positions
- Argues that moral questions about AI — including how much suffering advanced systems might cause or experience — should be weighed the same way as questions about human and animal suffering, through a utilitarian lens.
- Cautions against assuming AI progress is automatically good, and argues its value depends on whether it reduces suffering in the world.
Accomplishments
- Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University.
- Author of Animal Liberation (1975), Practical Ethics (1980) and The Life You Can Save (2009).
- Co-founded, with Sankalpa Ghose, Peter Singer AI, an experimental AI chat version of his work.
Papers & key writings
Links
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