Michal Masny, the NC Ethics of Technology Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, investigates how work contributes to human well-being beyond economic necessity, arguing that eliminating work entirely could harm society. His research examines the social, psychological, and community-building aspects of labor while teaching students to think critically about technology's ethical implications.
What makes work valuable? This question drives the research of Michal Masny, the NC Ethics of Technology Postdoctoral Fellow in MIT's Department of Philosophy, who investigates the role work plays in our lives and its impact on our well-being.
Masny sees numerous benefits to work that extend far beyond a paycheck. Work serves as a space for people to develop excellence at something, make social contributions, gain recognition, and create and sustain community. "Consider a future in which we shorten the work week, or one in which we eliminate work altogether," Masny says. "I don't believe either of these scenarios would be unambiguously good for everyone."
His argument challenges the notion that work is merely a necessary evil. "Work is both necessary and positively valuable," he argues, suggesting that our lives might be worsened if we were to eliminate work completely. "There can be optimal combinations of work and leisure time."
This perspective becomes increasingly relevant as artificial intelligence and automation technologies promise to reshape the nature of work. Masny's research examines how technological advancement might affect not just employment rates, but the fundamental ways humans find meaning and purpose through labor.
Bridging Disciplines in Technology Education
Beyond his research, Masny has been working to foster dialogue and educate students on issues at the intersection of philosophy and computing. This semester, he teaches an undergraduate course, 24.131 (Ethics of Technology), where he advocates for an updated approach to educating complete, socially aware students.
"I want to create scientists who think about their projects and potential outcomes as lawyers and philosophers might, and vice versa," he explains. This interdisciplinary approach addresses what Masny calls the "wisdom gap" between technical experts and ethicists.
He cites scientist Carl Sagan's warning about the dangers of becoming "powerful without becoming commensurately wise" as scientific and technological advances continue. "The traditional division of labor is that scientists and engineers invent new technologies, and then philosophers and lawyers evaluate and regulate them," he continues. "But the pace at which new technologies are invented and deployed has made this division of labor untenable."
Masny's approach emphasizes that ethical considerations should be integrated into the design and development process rather than applied as an afterthought. This philosophy aligns with MIT's broader efforts to incorporate social and ethical responsibilities into computing education.
A Fellowship at the Intersection of Ethics and Technology
Established in 2021 with support from the NC Cultural Foundation, the fellowship aims to advance critical discourse and research in the ethics of technology and AI at MIT. Venture capitalist Songyee Yoon, founder and managing partner of AI-focused investment firm Principal Venture Partners, believes technology and scientific discovery are among humanity's most valuable public goods.
"If we want the fabric of our society to be built responsibly, we must train our builders upstream, at the very moment they begin learning to design and scale technology. There is no better place to begin this work than MIT," she says. "Supporting the Ethics of Technology Fellows Program was born from that conviction, and I am deeply encouraged to see it embraced at MIT."
Masny arrived at MIT in fall 2024, following a year as a postdoc at the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public at the University of California at Berkeley. Originally from Poland, he received his PhD in philosophy from Princeton University after completing studies at Oxford University and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.
His research spans value theory, ethics of technology, and social and political philosophy. Current interests include the nature of human and animal well-being, our obligations to future generations, the risk of human extinction, the future of work, and anti-aging technology.
Practical Applications in the Classroom
During his tenure, Masny has published several research articles on ethical issues concerning the future of humanity—a topic closely relevant to thinking about the existential risks of AI development and deployment. "In philosophy, you're supposed to question everything," he says.
Masny's work continues a tradition of collaborative investigation that MIT encourages and celebrates. In fall 2024, he co-taught an introductory undergraduate course, STS.006J/24.06J (Bioethics), with Robin Scheffler, an associate professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society.
During the 2024-25 academic year, Masny led a student research group, "Deepfakes: Ethical, Political, and Epistemological Issues," as part of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) Scholars Program. The group explored the ethical, political, and epistemological dimensions of concerns over misleading deepfakes and how they can be mitigated.
Students in Masny's cohort spent spring 2025 working in small groups on various projects and presented their findings in a poster session during the MIT Ethics of Computing Research Symposium at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. In summer 2025, Masny assisted with a summer course in philosophy, 24.133/134 (Experiential Ethics), where students subjected their computer science and engineering projects to ethical scrutiny with the help of trained philosophers.
Rethinking the Philosophy Classroom
When considering the value of his experience at MIT, Masny lauds the philosophy department and the opportunities to collaborate with so many different kinds of scholars. To answer the kinds of questions his research uncovers, he says, you must range further afield.
"Typically, undergraduate philosophy courses include two hour-long lectures followed by discussion; a lecture is like an audiobook," he says. Instead, he believes they should be more like listening to a podcast or watching a talk show. "I want the class to be an event in a student's schedule," he continues.
Masny is also considering how to integrate valuable philosophical tools into life outside the classroom. Philosophy and research can support other kinds of inquiry. Developing philosophers' mindsets is a net positive, by his reckoning.
Designing better questions, for example, can lead to better, more insightful, more accurate answers. It can also improve students' abilities to identify challenges. This skill becomes increasingly valuable as society grapples with complex technological questions that don't have simple answers.
The Future of Work and Human Flourishing
As Masny prepares to begin teaching at the University of Colorado at Boulder in fall 2026, he wants to test new ideas while continuing his research into the value of work. His perspective offers a counterpoint to both techno-optimists who see automation as purely liberating and those who view technological unemployment as an existential threat.
Kieran Setiya, the Peter de Florez Professor in Philosophy and head of the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, says the NC Ethics of Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship has allowed MIT to bring in a series of exceptional young philosophers working at the intersection of ethics and AI, studying the systemic effects of new computing technologies and the moral, social, and political challenges they pose.
"This is just the kind of applied interdisciplinary thinking we need to support and sustain at MIT," he adds.
Masny's work suggests that as we develop increasingly sophisticated AI systems, we must consider not just what work machines can do, but what work humans need to do for their own flourishing. The question isn't simply whether AI can replace human labor, but how we can design technological systems that enhance rather than diminish human well-being.
The fellowship's emphasis on bridging technical and philosophical expertise reflects a growing recognition that the most pressing challenges of our technological age require both deep technical knowledge and careful ethical reasoning. As Masny's research demonstrates, understanding the value of work requires us to look beyond economic metrics to consider the social, psychological, and community-building functions that labor serves in human life.
In an era of rapid technological change, Masny's work reminds us that the most important questions about AI and automation may not be technical at all, but philosophical: What kind of society do we want to build? What makes life meaningful? And how can technology serve human flourishing rather than undermine it?
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