I study moral judgment and decision-making in the context of technology. My prior work has examined the moral psychology of misinformation — including why people across the political spectrum are willing to excuse falsehoods they believe are true “in spirit,” and how imagining that a lie could become true makes it feel more acceptable. I’m increasingly focused on the moral psychology of large language models. How do people make moral judgments about and with AI? How does AI moral judgment and decision-making differ from human moral judgment and decision-making? How do people want AI to be aligned?

I’m interested in both fundamental insights into moral psychology and more applied questions relevant to the challenges of novel technologies. I’m also thinking about how AI will reshape the way we produce, evaluate, and disseminate behavioral science research. My work has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and Organization Science, and featured in the Financial Times and Harvard Business Review.

I am an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale School of Management, where I teach Business Ethics. I earned my Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from London Business School, and B.Sc. Psychology and M.Sc. in Management from Queen's University, Canada.

Interested in collaborating? I’m especially eager to connect with researchers at AI labs, policy organizations, and interdisciplinary teams working on the ethics of AI systems — as well as research assistants from across Yale. Reach out at ba.helgason@yale.edu.