Brian Hayden PhD ’12 has been appointed co-associate dean of the Center for Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) at MIT, a cross-cutting initiative in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, effective January 16.
Hayden is Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, a position shared with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. He joins the MIT faculty last fall from the Australian National University and the University of Sydney, where he previously served as a faculty member. He received a BA from Princeton University and a PhD in philosophy from MIT.
“Brian is a natural and compelling choice for SERC as a philosopher whose work speaks directly to the intellectual challenges facing education and research today, particularly in computing and AI. His expertise in epistemology, decision theory, and ethics addresses questions that have become increasingly urgent in an era defined by information abundance and artificial intelligence. His scholarship exemplifies the kind of interdisciplinary inquiry that SERC exists to pursue.” is,” says Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and Henry Ellis. Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Hayden’s research focuses on how we should form beliefs and make decisions, and explores how philosophical thinking about rationality can yield insights into contemporary ethical issues, including the ethics of AI. He is the author of “Reasons Without Persons: Rationality, Identity, and Time” (Oxford University Press, 2015) and articles on topics such as collective action problems, legal standards of evidence, algorithmic fairness, and political polarization.
Joining co-associate dean Nikos Trichakis, the J.C. Penney Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Hayden will help lead SERC and advance the initiative’s ongoing research, teaching and engagement efforts. He succeeds Caspar Heyer, professor of philosophy, who steps down at the conclusion of his three-year term on September 1, 2025.
Since its inception in 2020, SERC has launched a series of programs and activities designed to develop responsible “habits of mind and work” among those who create and deploy computing technologies, while promoting the development of technologies in the public interest.
The SERC Scholars Program invites undergraduate and graduate students to work with postdoctoral advisors to explore interdisciplinary ethical challenges in computing. The initiative also hosts an annual awards competition that challenges MIT students to imagine the future of computing, publishes a bi-annual series of case studies, and collaborates on coordinated curricular content, including active-learning projects, homework assignments, and in-class demonstrations. In 2024, SERC launched a new seed grant program to support MIT researchers investigating ethical technology development; To date, two rounds of grants have been awarded to 24 projects.
