Will MacAskill

William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford , recognized as a principal founder of the effective altruism movement, which applies empirical evidence and rational analysis to maximize the impact of charitable efforts.

MacAskill co-founded Giving What We Can in 2009, a pledge encouraging high earners to donate at least 10% of their income to highly effective charities; 80,000 Hours in 2011, which advises on career choices to optimize social impact; and the Centre for Effective Altruism in 2012, an umbrella organization supporting the movement's growth.

He authored Doing Good Better in 2015, which argues for evaluating charities based on cost-effectiveness and evidence of outcomes rather than intent, and What We Owe the Future in 2022, advocating longtermism —the prioritization of future generations' welfare in moral decision-making, including mitigation of existential risks like unaligned artificial general intelligence .

At age 28, MacAskill became the world's youngest tenured professor of philosophy.

The effective altruism movement, which MacAskill helped establish, encountered significant criticism following the 2022 bankruptcy of FTX , a cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried , who had publicly committed to effective altruism principles; MacAskill served as an advisor to Bankman-Fried and on the board of the FTX Future Fund but resigned upon the collapse, stating he had observed no indications of fraud and expressing shock at the events.

William MacAskill was born William Crouch on 24 March 1987 in Glasgow , Scotland . He grew up in an affluent family in the city.

MacAskill attended Hutchesons' Grammar School , a selective independent day school in Glasgow , graduating in the class of 2005. He excelled academically and in extracurricular activities during his time there.

From a young age, MacAskill demonstrated an interest in altruism and positive impact, including volunteering efforts as a pupil at Hutchesons'. He later adopted the surname MacAskill, reportedly drawing from historical and familial associations, including connections to his then-wife's ancestry.

MacAskill completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy at Jesus College, University of Cambridge , graduating in 2008. He subsequently enrolled at the University of Oxford , where he earned a BPhil in philosophy from St Edmund Hall in 2010.

MacAskill then pursued a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in moral philosophy at Oxford , completing the degree in May 2014 under the supervision of John Broome at St Anne's College. During his doctoral studies, he spent one year as a visiting student at Princeton University . His dissertation focused on decision-making under moral uncertainty, building on themes in expected value theory and population ethics .

MacAskill co-founded the effective altruism organization Giving What We Can in 2009, which encourages participants to commit to donating at least 10% of their income to highly effective charities. He subsequently co-founded 80,000 Hours in 2011, a nonprofit providing career advice aimed at maximizing positive impact over lifetimes, and the Centre for Effective Altruism in 2012, where he served as president until at least 2018.

Following completion of his DPhil in philosophy at the University of Oxford in 2014, MacAskill was appointed Associate Professor of Philosophy there in 2015, at the time the youngest such appointment in the department's history. He concurrently held the role of Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Global Priorities Institute , which he co-founded in 2017 to conduct research on prioritizing global issues such as existential risks. MacAskill also served as a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford , during this period.

In 2018, MacAskill established the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research, an organization dedicated to analyzing long-term global challenges including artificial general intelligence .