Effective Altruism Forum Podcast

We've redesigned effectivealtruism.org to improve understanding and perception of effective altruism, and make it easier to take action. View the new site I led the redesign and will be writing in the first person here, but many others contributed research, feedback, writing, editing, and development. I'd love to hear what you think, here is a feedback form. Redesign goals This redesign is part of CEA's broader efforts to improve how effective altruism is understood and perceived. I focused on goals aligned with CEA's branding and growth strategy: Improve understanding of what effective altruism is Make the core ideas easier to grasp by simplifying language, addressing common misconceptions, and showcasing more real-world examples of people and projects. Improve the perception of effective altruism I worked from a set of brand associations defined by the group working on the EA brand project[1]. These are words we want people to associate [...] ---Outline:(00:44) Redesign goals(02:09) Before and after(02:22) Landing page(03:50) Site navigation(04:24) New Take action page(05:03) Early results(05:40) Share your thoughtsThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: May 27th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZbQKtMMsDP6GnXuwr/revamped-effectivealtruism-org --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Summary  While many people and organisations in the EA community can be great connections, don't assume that just because a person has been in the EA community for a long time, they'll be a good fit for you to work with or be friends with. Don't assume that just because a project or org has been around for a long time, it would be a good place for you to work. It may be a great opportunity, but it might not. Do some of the usual things you would do to check that this is a good interaction for you (e.g. talk to people who know or have worked with them before starting a collaboration, take time to get to know someone before placing large amounts of trust on them, and pay attention to any signals that this interaction might not be a good for you). [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Summary(01:27) Choosing to work with another person(03:04) Conference attendance(03:38) Working with organisations(04:06) Personal Interactions with Community Members--- First published: May 22nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yNm58h8cvufPfBPLP/don-t-update-too-much-from-ea-community-involvement --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Article 5 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Obviously, no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." OK, it doesn't actually start with "obviously," but I like to imagine the commissioners all murmuring to themselves “obviously” when this item was brought up. I'm not sure what the causal effect of Article 5 (or the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture) has been on reducing torture globally, though the physical integrity rights index (which “captures the extent to which people are free from government torture and political killings”) has increased from 0.48 in 1948 to 0.67 in 2024 (which is good). However, the index reached 0.67 already back in 2001, so at least according to this metric, we haven't made much progress in the past 25 years. Reducing government torture and killings seems to be low in tractability. Despite many [...] The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: May 18th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7FvDvMQypyua4kTL5/most-painful-condition-known-to-mankind-a-retrospective-of --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Introduction I have been writing posts critical of mainstream EA narratives about AI capabilities and timelines for many years now. Compared to the situation when I wrote my posts in 2018 or 2020, LLMs now dominate the discussion, and timelines have also shrunk enormously. The ‘mainstream view' within EA now appears to be that human-level AI will be arriving by 2030, even as early as 2027. This view has been articulated by 80,000 Hours, on the forum (though see this excellent piece excellent piece arguing against short timelines), and in the highly engaging science fiction scenario of AI 2027. While my article piece is directed generally against all such short-horizon views, I will focus on responding to relevant portions of the article ‘Preparing for the Intelligence Explosion' by Will MacAskill and Fin Moorhouse. Rates of Growth The authors summarise their argument as follows: Currently, total global research effort [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Introduction(01:05) Rates of Growth(04:55) The Limitations of Benchmarks(09:26) Real-World Adoption(11:31) Conclusion--- First published: May 2nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/meNrhbgM3NwqAufwj/why-i-am-still-skeptical-about-agi-by-2030 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Are you looking for a project where you could substantially improve indoor air quality, with benefits both to general health and reducing pandemic risk? I've written a bunch about air purifiers over the past few years, and its frustrating how bad commercial market is. The most glaring problem is the widespread use of HEPA filters. These are very effective filters that, unavoidably, offer significant resistance to air flow. HEPA is a great option for filtering air in single pass, such as with an outdoor air intake or a biosafety cabinet, but it's the wrong set of tradeoffs for cleaning the air that's already in the room. Air passing through a HEPA filter removes 99.97% of particles, but then it's mixed back in with the rest of the room air. If you can instead remove 99% of particles from 2% more air, or 90% from 15% more [...] --- First published: May 11th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8BEqanpJFGhisETBi/better-air-purifiers --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

First published: May 16th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/LeCJqzdHZZB3uBhZg/the-daily-show-did-a-segment-on-ea-and-shrimp-welfare --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Americans, we need your help to stop a dangerous AI bill from passing the Senate. What's going on? The House Energy & Commerce Committee included a provision in its reconciliation bill that would ban AI regulation by state and local governments for the next 10 years. Several states have led the way in AI regulation while Congress has dragged its heels. Stopping state governments from regulating AI might be okay, if we could trust Congress to meaningfully regulate it instead. But we can't. This provision would destroy state leadership on AI and pass the responsibility to a Congress that has shown little interest in seriously preventing AI danger. If this provision passes the Senate, we could see a DECADE of inaction on AI. This provision also violates the Byrd Rule, a Senate rule which is meant to prevent non-budget items from being included in the reconciliation bill. What can I do? Here are [...] --- First published: May 15th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qWcabjNqxEBNQY3cv/urgent-americans-call-your-senators-and-tell-them-you-oppose --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I am Jason Green-Lowe, the executive director of the Center for AI Policy (CAIP). Our mission is to directly convince Congress to pass strong AI safety legislation. As I explain in some detail in this post, I think our organization has been doing extremely important work, and that we've been doing well at it. Unfortunately, we have been unable to get funding from traditional donors to continue our operations. If we don't get more funding in the next 30 days, we will have to shut down, which will damage our relationships with Congress and make it harder for future advocates to get traction on AI governance. In this post, I explain what we've been doing, why I think it's valuable, and how your donations could help. This is the first post in what I expect will be a 3-part series. The first post focuses on CAIP's particular need [...] ---Outline:(01:33) OUR MISSION AND STRATEGY(02:59) Our Model Legislation(04:17) Direct Meetings with Congressional Staffers(05:20) Expert Panel Briefings(06:16) AI Policy Happy Hours(06:43) Op-Eds & Policy Papers(07:22) Grassroots & Grasstops Organizing(09:13) Whats Unique About CAIP?(10:26) OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS(10:29) Quantifiable Outputs(11:21) Changing the Media Narrative(12:23) Proof of Concept(13:44) Outcomes -- Congressional Engagement(18:29) Context(19:54) OUR PROPOSED POLICIES(19:58) Mandatory Audits for Frontier AI(21:23) Liability Reform(22:32) Hardware Monitoring(24:11) Emergency Powers(25:31) Further Details(25:41) RESPONSES TO COMMON POLICY OBJECTIONS(25:46) 1. Why not push for a ban or pause on superintelligence research?(30:17) 2. Why not support bills that have a better chance of passing this year, like funding for NIST or NAIRR?(32:30) 3. If Congress is so slow to act, why should anyone be working with Congress at all? Why not focus on promoting state laws or voluntary standards?(35:09) 4. Why would you push the US to unilaterally disarm? Don't we instead need a global treaty regulating AI (or subsidies for US developers) to avoid handing control of the future to China?(37:24) 5. Why haven't you accomplished your mission yet? If your organization is effective, shouldn't you have passed some of your legislation by now, or at least found some powerful Congressional sponsors for it?(40:56) OUR TEAM(41:53) Executive Director(44:04) Government Relations Team(45:12) Policy Team(46:08) Communications Team(47:29) Operations Team(48:11) Personnel Changes(48:49) OUR PLAN IF FUNDED(51:58) OUR FUNDING SITUATION(52:02) Our Expenses & Runway(53:02) No Good Way to Cut Costs(55:22) Our Revenue(57:02) Surprise Budget Deficit(59:00) The Bottom Line--- First published: May 7th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/9uZHnEkhXZjWzia7F/please-donate-to-caip-post-1-of-3-on-ai-governance --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Or on the types of prioritization, their strengths, pitfalls, and how EA should balance them The cause prioritization landscape in EA is changing. Prominent groups have shut down, others have been founded, and everyone is trying to figure out how to prepare for AI. This is the first in a series of posts examining the state of cause prioritization and proposing strategies for moving forward. Executive Summary Performing prioritization work has been one of the main tasks, and arguably achievements, of EA. We highlight three types of prioritization: Cause Prioritization, Within-Cause (Intervention) Prioritization, and Cross-Cause (Intervention) Prioritization. We ask how much of EA prioritization work falls in each of these categories: Our estimates suggest that, for the organizations we investigated, the current split is 89% within-cause work, 2% cross-cause, and 9% cause prioritization. We then explore strengths and potential pitfalls of each level: Cause [...] ---Outline:(00:37) Executive Summary(03:09) Introduction: Why prioritize? Have we got it right?(05:18) The types of prioritization(06:54) A snapshot of EA(16:45) The Types of Prioritization Evaluated(16:57) Cause Prioritization(20:56) Within-Cause Prioritization(25:12) Cross-Cause Prioritization(30:07) Summary Table(30:53) What factors should push us towards one or another?(37:27) Possible Next Steps(39:44) Conclusion(40:58) Acknowledgements(41:01) en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ Modern geometric logo design with text RETHINK PRIORITIES(41:55) Appendix: Strengths and Pitfalls of Each Type(42:07) Within-Cause Prioritization Strengths(42:12) Decision-Making Support(42:37) Comparability of Outputs(44:18) Disciplinarity Advantages(45:45) Responsiveness to Evidence(46:48) Movement Building(48:06) Within-Cause Prioritization Weaknesses and Potential Pitfalls(48:12) Responsiveness to Evidence(50:54) Decision-Making Support(52:45) Cross-Cause Prioritization Strengths:(53:06) Decision-Making Support(54:49) Responsiveness to Evidence(56:08) Movement Building(56:22) Comparability of Outputs(56:45) Decision-Making Support(57:14) Cross-Cause Prioritization Weaknesses and Potential Pitfalls(57:20) Comparability of Outputs(58:01) Disciplinarity Advantages(58:41) Movement Building(59:09) Decision-Making Support(01:00:27) Cause Prioritization Strengths(01:00:32) Decision-Making Support(01:02:01) Responsiveness to Evidence(01:02:52) Movement Building(01:03:28) Cause Prioritization Weaknesses and Potential Pitfalls(01:04:28) Decision-Making Support(01:06:08) Responsiveness to EvidenceThe original text contained 23 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 16th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZPdZv8sHuYndD8xhJ/doing-prioritization-better-2 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:

This is a Forum Team crosspost from Substack. Whither cause prioritization and connection with the good? There's a trend towards people who once identified as Effective Altruists now identifying solely as “people working on AI safety.”[1] For those in the loop, it feels like less of a trend and more of a tidal wave. There's an increasing sense that among the most prominent (formerly?) EA orgs and individuals, making AGI go well is functionally all that matters. For that end, so the trend goes, the ideas of Effective Altruism have exhausted their usefulness. They pointed us to the right problem – thanks; we'll take it from here. And taking it from here means building organizations, talent bases, and political alliances at a scale incommensurate with attachment to a niche ideology or moralizing language generally. I think this a dangerous path to go down too hard and my impression [...] ---Outline:(02:39) What I see(06:35) The threat means pose to ends(11:12) Losing something moreThe original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: May 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/CKKAga4HfQyAranaC/the-soul-of-ea-is-in-trouble --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I put on a small one-day conference. The cost per attendee was £50 (vs £1.2k for EAGs) and the cost per new connection was £11 (vs £130 for EAGs). intro EA North was a one-day event for the North of England. 35 people showed up on the day. In total, I spent £1765 (≈ $2.4k), including paying myself £20/h for 30h total. This money will be reimbursed by EA UK[1]. The cost per attendee was £50 and the cost per new connection was £11. These are significantly lower than for EAG events, suggesting that we should be putting on more smaller events. I am not arguing that EAGs should not exist at all. A local event will likely never let me connect with someone living on another continent in person. My main goal with this post is to encourage individuals to put on more events [...] ---Outline:(00:29) intro(01:38) why you can probably do this, too(02:26) what I spent the money on and a comparison with EAG London 2023(03:12) budget breakdown(04:48) cost per attendee per day(05:17) cost per connection(07:19) what I spent my time on(08:24) ideas for being even more cost-effective(09:27) recommendations to funders(09:49) reconsider how much resources you spend on small applications(10:44) consider providing funding upfront(11:17) thermal printers are cool and cheap(11:57) conclusionThe original text contained 7 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: May 2nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/m9sTFoAsE8dSnzoBt/untitled-draft-tr7p --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

If you're interested in having a meaningful EA career but your experience doesn't match the types of jobs that the typical white collar, intellectual EA community leans towards, then you're just like me. I have been earning to give as a nuclear power plant operator in Southern Maryland for the past few years, and I think it's a great opportunity for other EA's who want to make a difference but don't have a PhD in philosophy or public policy. Additionally, I have personal sway with Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs plant, so I can influence the hiring process to help any interested applicants. Here are a few reasons that I think this is such an ideal Earn to Give career: A high income job in a low cost of living area means you will be able to donate a significant portion of your paychecks and still live comfortably. [...] --- First published: April 17th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/LeuLyJEXcjAkeB965/e2g-help-available --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Introduction In this post, I present what I believe to be an important yet underexplored argument that fundamentally challenges the promise of cultivated meat. In essence, there are compelling reasons to conclude that cultivated meat will not replace conventional meat, but will instead primarily compete with other alternative proteins that offer superior environmental and ethical benefits. Moreover, research into and promotion of cultivated meat may potentially result in a net negative impact. Beyond critique, I try to offer constructive recommendations for the EA movement. While I've kept this post concise, I'm more than willing to elaborate on any specific point upon request.From industry to academia: my cultivated meat journey I'm currently in my fourth year (and hopefully final one!) of my PhD. My thesis examines the environmental and economic challenges associated with alternative proteins. I have three working papers on cultivated meat at various stages of development, though [...] ---Outline:(00:13) Introduction(00:55) From industry to academia: my cultivated meat journey(01:53) Motivations and epistemic status(03:39) Baseline assumptions for this discussion(03:44) Cultivated meat is environmentally better than conventional meat, but probably not as good as plant-based meat(06:29) Cultivated meat will remain quite expensive for several years, and hybrid plant-cell products will likely appear on the market first(08:58) Cultivated meat is ethically better than conventional meat(10:26) The main argument: cannibalization rather than conversion(16:46) Strategic drawbacks of the current focus(19:11) The evidence that would make me eat my words (and maybe cultivated meat)(20:37) What Id like to see change in the Effective Altruism approach to cultivated meat(22:14) Answer from GFI Europe--- First published: April 30th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/TYhs8zehyybvMt5E4/cultivating-doubt-why-i-no-longer-believe-cultivated-meat-is --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

I'm ironically not a very prolific writer. I've preferred to stay behind the scenes here and leave the writing to my colleagues who have more of a knack for it. But a goodbye post is something I must write for myself. Perhaps I'm getting old and nostalgic, because what came out wound up being a wander down memory lane. I probably am getting old and nostalgic, but I also hope I've communicated something about my love for this community and the gratefulness for the chance to serve you all.My story of the EA Forum Few things have lasted as long in my life as my work on the Forum. I've spent more time working on the EA Forum than I've spent living anywhere since I was 0-12 years old. I've worked on the Forum longer than I've known my partner—whom I've known long enough to get married to. [...] ---Outline:(00:40) My story of the EA Forum(03:47) What's nextThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: May 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4ckgvqohXTBy6hCap/untitled-draft-a4kx --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

I recently read a blog post that concluded with: When I'm on my deathbed, I won't look back at my life and wish I had worked harder. I'll look back and wish I spent more time with the people I loved. Setting aside that some people don't have the economic breathing room to make this kind of tradeoff, what jumps out at me is the implication that you're not working on something important that you'll endorse in retrospect. I don't think the author is envisioning directly valuable work (reducing risk from international conflict, pandemics, or AI-supported totalitarianism; improving humanity's treatment of animals; fighting global poverty) or the undervalued less direct approach of earning money and donating it to enable others to work on pressing problems. Definitely spend time with your friends, family, and those you love. Don't work to the exclusion of everything else [...] --- First published: May 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/cF6eumerCq8hnb9YT/prioritizing-work --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I wanted to share a small but important challenge I've encountered as a student engaging with Effective Altruism from a lower-income country (Nigeria), and invite thoughts or suggestions from the community. Recently, I tried to make a one-time donation to one of the EA-aligned charities listed on the Giving What We Can platform. However, I discovered that I could not donate an amount less than $5. While this might seem like a minor limit for many, for someone like me — a student without a steady income or job, $5 is a significant amount. To provide some context: According to Numbeo, the average monthly income of a Nigerian worker is around $130–$150, and students often rely on even less — sometimes just $20–$50 per month for all expenses. For many students here, having $5 "lying around" isn't common at all; it could represent a week's worth of meals [...] --- First published: April 28th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YoN3sKfkr5ruW47Cg/reflections-on-the-usd5-minimum-donation-barrier-on-the --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

This is a link post. Summary: The NAO will increase our sequencing significantly over the next few months, funded by a $3M grant from Open Philanthropy. This will allow us to scale our early-warning system to where we could flag many engineered pathogens early enough to mitigate their worst impacts, and also generate large amounts of data to develop, tune, and evaluate our detection systems. One of the biological threats the NAO is most concerned with is a 'stealth' pathogen, such as a virus with the profile of a faster-spreading HIV. This could cause a devastating pandemic, and early detection would be critical to mitigate the worst impacts. If such a pathogen were to spread, however, we wouldn't be able to monitor it with traditional approaches because we wouldn't know what to look for. Instead, we have invested in metagenomic sequencing for pathogen-agnostic detection. This doesn't require deciding what [...] --- First published: April 2nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AJ8bd2sz8tF7cxJff/scaling-our-pilot-early-warning-system Linkpost URL:https://naobservatory.org/blog/scaling-our-early-warning-system/ --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

[Cross-posted from my Substack here] If you spend time with people trying to change the world, you'll come to an interesting conundrum: Various advocacy groups reference previous successful social movements as to why their chosen strategy is the most important one. Yet, these groups often follow wildly different strategies from each other to achieve social change. So, which one of them is right? The answer is all of them and none of them. This is because many people use research and historical movements to justify their pre-existing beliefs about how social change happens. Simply, you can find a case study to fit most plausible theories of how social change happens. For example, the groups might say: Repeated nonviolent disruption is the key to social change, citing the Freedom Riders from the civil rights Movement or Act Up! from the gay rights movement. Technological progress is what drives improvements [...] The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 24th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/why-you-can-justify-almost-anything-using-historical-social --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Our Mission: To build a multidisciplinary field around using technology—especially AI—to improve the lives of nonhumans now and in the future. Overview Background This hybrid conference had nearly 550 participants and took place March 1-2, 2025 at UC Berkeley. It was organized by AI for Animals for $74k by volunteer core organizers Constance Li, Sankalpa Ghose, and Santeri Tani. This conference has evolved since 2023: The 1st conference mainly consisted of philosophers and was a single track lecture/panel. The 2nd conference put all lectures on one day and followed it with 2 days of interactive unconference sessions happening in parallel and a week of in-person co-working. This 3rd conference had a week of related satellite events, free shared accommodations for 50+ attendees, 2 days of parallel lectures/panels/unconferences, 80 unique sessions, of which 32 are available on Youtube, Swapcard to enable 1:1 connections, and a Slack community to continue conversations year [...] ---Outline:(00:32) Overview(00:35) Background(02:27) Outcomes(03:51) The Event(s)(04:19) Speaking Sessions(04:23) en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ Conference presentation scenes with speakers and audience in auditorium setting. The image shows a collage of different presentation scenes at what appears to be an academic or professional conference. The main image shows an auditorium with attendees watching a video presentation on a large screen. Other smaller images show speakers on stage in different settings - some seated in orange chairs for a panel discussion, others at podiums. Theres a logo visible for what appears to be a research institute in one of the frames. The setting appears academic/professional in nature, with proper presentation equipment, stage lighting, and organized seating arrangements typical of a conference or symposium event.(05:10) Featured Talks(10:13) Lightning Talks(11:55) Interactive Sessions(12:19) Unconferences(13:22) Meetups(13:36) Mapping Workshops(13:44) Office Hours(13:59) Topic Distribution(14:18) Satellite Events(14:41) en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ Events schedule showing AI and animal-focused activities from Feb 26-Mar 2.(14:52) en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ People gathered at social events, networking and dining in various settings.(15:02) Behind the Scenes(15:10) Personnel(16:04) Handbooks(16:24) Finances(19:21) Outreach(21:17) Event Reflection(24:12) Get Involved--- First published: April 5th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KWpyRXzHn6JMyZiBn/ai-for-animals-2025-bay-area-retrospective --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

SUMMARY: ALLFED is launching an emergency appeal on the EA Forum due to a serious funding shortfall. Without new support, ALLFED will be forced to cut half our budget in the coming months, drastically reducing our capacity to help build global food system resilience for catastrophic scenarios like nuclear winter, a severe pandemic, or infrastructure breakdown. ALLFED is seeking $800,000 over the course of 2025 to sustain its team, continue policy-relevant research, and move forward with pilot projects that could save lives in a catastrophe. As funding priorities shift toward AI safety, we believe resilient food solutions remain a highly cost-effective way to protect the future. If you're able to support or share this appeal, please visit allfed.info/donate. FULL ARTICLE: I (David Denkenberger) am writing alongside two of my team-mates, as ALLFED's co-founder, to ask for your support. This is the first time in Alliance [...] ---Outline:(02:40) The case for ALLFED's work, and why we think maintaining full current capacity is valuable(04:14) How this connects to AI and other risks(05:39) What we're asking for--- First published: April 16th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/K7hPmcaf2xEZ6F4kR/allfed-emergency-appeal-help-us-raise-usd800-000-to-avoid-1 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Summary In this article, I estimate the cost-effectiveness of five Anima International programs in Poland: improving cage-free and broiler welfare, blocking new factory farms, banning fur farming, and encouraging retailers to sell more plant-based protein. I estimate that together, these programs help roughly 136 animals—or 32 years of farmed animal life—per dollar spent. Animal years affected per dollar spent was within an order of magnitude for all five evaluated interventions. I also tried to estimate how much suffering each program alleviates. Using SADs (Suffering-Adjusted Days)—a metric developed by Ambitious Impact (AIM) that accounts for species differences and pain intensity—Anima's programs appear highly cost-effective, even compared to charities recommended by Animal Charity Evaluators. However, I also ran a small informal survey to understand how people intuitively weigh different categories of pain defined by the Welfare Footprint Institute. The results suggested that SADs may heavily underweight brief but intense suffering. Based [...] ---Outline:(02:16) Background(02:46) Results(05:57) Explanations of the programs(08:59) Why these estimates are very uncertain(13:48) Animal welfare metric(16:42) Comparison to SADs(19:42) Comparison to other charities(19:47) Comparisons of SADs estimates(20:54) Comparisons of cage-free estimates(24:26) For how many years do reforms have an impact?(25:21) Cage-free(29:45) Broilers(31:18) Stop the farms(32:57) Fur farmsThe original text contained 8 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sLYSa7MyuDKxreN5h/cost-effectiveness-of-anima-international-poland-1 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

We are excited to share a summary of our 2025 strategy, which builds on our work in 2024 and provides a vision through 2027 and beyond! Background Giving What We Can (GWWC) is working towards a world without preventable suffering or existential risk, where everyone is able to flourish. We do this by making giving effectively and significantly a cultural norm. Focus on pledges Based on our last impact evaluation[1], we have made our pledges – and in particular the

We are excited to share a summary of our 2025 strategy, which builds on our work in 2024 and provides a vision through 2027 and beyond! Background Giving What We Can (GWWC) is working towards a world without preventable suffering or existential risk, where everyone is able to flourish. We do this by making giving effectively and significantly a cultural norm. Focus on pledges Based on our last impact evaluation[1], we have made our pledges – and in particular the

Introduction Four years ago, I commissioned as an Officer in the UK's Royal Navy. I had been engaging with EA for four years before that and chose this career as a coherent part of my impact-focused career plan, and I stand by that decision. Early next year, I will leave the Navy. This article is a round-up of why I made my choices, how I think military careers can sensibly align with an EA career, and the theories of impact I considered along the way that don't hold water. Military service won't be the right call for most in this community, but it could be for some. Hopefully, this is informative for those people. Furthermore, I spent a whole year being trained in leadership. Someone I met at an EAGx conference said the offhand nugget of Military Leadership 101 wisdom I gave them was the "best advice I received [...] --- First published: April 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/f6XmkJ9PWFfn9GvqD/ea-reflections-on-my-military-career --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

In our recent strategy retreat, the GWWC Leadership Team recognised that by spreading our limited resources across too many projects, we are unable to deliver the level of excellence and impact that our mission demands. True to our value of being mission accountable, we've therefore made the difficult but necessary decision to discontinue a total of 10 initiatives. By focusing our energy on fewer, more strategically aligned initiatives, we think we'll be more likely to ultimately achieve our Big Hairy Audacious Goal of 1 million pledgers donating $3B USD to high-impact charities annually. (See our 2025 strategy.) We'd like to be transparent about the choices we made, both to hold ourselves accountable and so other organisations can take the gaps we leave into account when planning their work. As such, this post aims to: Inform the broader EA community about changes to projects & highlight opportunities to carry [...] ---Outline:(02:30) Giving What We Can Canada(06:13) Effective Altruism Australia funding partnership(08:40) Giving What We Can Groups(10:57) Giving Games(12:50) Charity Elections(16:59) Effective Giving Meta evaluation and grantmaking(19:11) Giving What We Can Donor Lottery(21:32) Translations(23:59) Hosted Funds(25:56) New licensing of the GWWC brandThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/f7yQFP3ZhtfDkD7pr/gwwc-is-retiring-10-initiatives --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

In our recent strategy retreat, the GWWC Leadership Team recognised that by spreading our limited resources across too many projects, we are unable to deliver the level of excellence and impact that our mission demands. True to our value of being mission accountable, we've therefore made the difficult but necessary decision to discontinue a total of 10 initiatives. By focusing our energy on fewer, more strategically aligned initiatives, we think we'll be more likely to ultimately achieve our Big Hairy Audacious Goal of 1 million pledgers donating $3B USD to high-impact charities annually. (See our 2025 strategy.) We'd like to be transparent about the choices we made, both to hold ourselves accountable and so other organisations can take the gaps we leave into account when planning their work. As such, this post aims to: Inform the broader EA community about changes to projects & highlight opportunities to carry [...] ---Outline:(02:28) Giving What We Can Canada(06:17) Effective Altruism Australia funding partnership(08:45) Giving What We Can Groups(11:00) Giving Games(12:53) Charity Elections(17:00) Effective Giving Meta evaluation and grantmaking(19:11) Giving What We Can Donor Lottery(21:30) Translations(23:56) Hosted Funds(25:53) New licensing of the GWWC brandThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/f7yQFP3ZhtfDkD7pr/gwwc-is-retiring-10-initiatives --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I sometimes worry that focus on effectiveness creates perverse incentives in strategic settings, leading us to become less effective. Here are a few observations illustrating this concern. Effectiveness-focused advocacy creates perverse incentives for adversaries When we conduct cage-free campaigns, the target companies frequently ask us why they are being targeted instead of some other company. While trying to answer that, one immediately realises the following tension. If we say that "because targeting you is the most effective thing we can do", we incentivise them to not budge. Because they will know that willingness to compromise invites more aggression. When dealing with an effectiveness-focused movement, our adversaries are further incentivised to prevent concrete results. While other movements will have to be destroyed through pressure, an effectiveness-focused movement will easily go away if you just prove to them that they can be more effective elsewhere. For that reason, in our [...] ---Outline:(00:21) Effectiveness-focused advocacy creates perverse incentives for adversaries(01:20) Sometimes you have to fight back even when it's not the most effective thing to do(02:05) Religious rules survive because they are stubborn(02:39) We might need more commitment devices--- First published: April 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tvcEa9LhsX264NZbf/maybe-we-aren-t-stubborn-enough --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a Forum Team crosspost from Substack. Matt would like to add: "Epistemic status = incomplete speculation; posted here at the Forum team's request" When you ask prominent Effective Altruists about Effective Altruism, you often get responses like these: For context, Will MacAskill and Holden Karnofsky are arguably, literally the number one and two most prominent Effective Altruists on the planet. Other evidence of their ~spouses' personal involvement abounds, especially Amanda's. Now, perhaps they've had changes of heart in recent months or years – and they're certainly entitled to have those – but being evasive and implicitly disclaiming mere knowledge of EA is comically misleading and non-transparent. Calling these statements lies seems within bounds for most.[1] This kind of evasiveness around one's EA associations has been common since the collapse of FTX in 2022, (which, for yet more context, was a major EA funder that year and [...] ---Outline:(03:32) Why can't EAs talk about EA like normal humans (or even normal executives)?(05:54) Coming of age during the Great Awokening(07:15) Bad Comms Advice(08:22) Not understanding how words work (coupled with motivated reasoning)(11:05) TraumaThe original text contained 5 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: April 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6NCYo7RFYfkEjLAtn/ea-adjacency-as-ftx-trauma --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Last week, I participated in Animal Advocacy Careers' Impactful Policy Careers programme. Below I'm sharing some reflections on what was a really interesting week in Brussels! Please note I spent just one week there, so take it all with a grain of (CAP-subsidized) salt. Posts like this and this one are probably much more informative (and assume less context). I mainly wrote this to reflect on my time in Brussels (and I capped it at 2 hours, so it's not a super polished draft). I'll focus mostly on EU careers generally, less on (EU) animal welfare-related careers. Before I jump in, just a quick note about how I think AAC did something really cool here: they identified a relatively underexplored area where it's relatively easy for animal advocates to find impactful roles, and then designed a programme to help these people better understand that area, meet stakeholders, and learn [...] ---Outline:(01:26) On EU careers generally(02:59) On EU careers - EA specific(05:55) Some miscellaneous notes--- First published: March 30th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/e95HCwqNp7RiF94ad/what-i-learned-from-a-week-in-the-eu-policy-bubble --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

It is standard form in EA to state one's welcomingness of feedback, both in a personal and professional capacity. Individuals and organisations alike often have many means by which you can deliver feedback, whether through anonymous forms or direct communication, and forum posts will often begin or end with: "I'm open to feedback..." "I'm looking for feedback of the following nature..." "I'm very full because I ate feedback for breakfast, but there's always room for more..." And so on. I'm now wondering: what happens if you write, "I am not open to feedback". Literally, is that even allowed? I've never seen it done. I'm concerned to see such heterogeneous thinking on the topic and I find it alarming that a community which espouses openness would be so closed off to non-openness. How is it that not a single person in this intellectual, professional, personal community, or [...] --- First published: April 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8xkGFooEmJNCsFQpv/what-if-i-m-not-open-to-feedback --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Hi, I'm Tandena Wagner. As part of my research for EcoResillience Initiative (an EA organization searching for the best ways to preserve biodiversity into the long-term future), I've investigated several common claims that various resource limitations could be disastrous for civilization – ie, that we're approaching “peak oil”, or imminently running out of phosphorus, soil nitrogen, chromium, etc. For the most part, I've found these claims to be overblown, often thanks to systematic exaggeration caused by the poor epistemic environment of activist environmentalism. In general, Paul-Erlich-style resource limitations do not seem pressing compared to other risks to civilization. However, there's one key resource that I've become increasingly concerned about: human civilization might be running out of low-hanging fruit.This kid can't reach the fruit because he's just a baby.  But soon, this kid's problem could be the WHOLE WORLD's problem. Low-hanging fruit is essential for continued human thriving You might [...] ---Outline:(01:13) Low-hanging fruit is essential for continued human thriving(03:35) What would it mean if humanity exhausted the low-hanging fruit?(04:32) New ways of making fruit hang lower are getting harder to find(05:52) Shorter trees -- lower fruit(08:50) Low-hanging fruit has broad benefits(10:28) The Fruit is Too Damn High(13:07) A fruitful direction for future research--- First published: April 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/5RNHhZ2KSesrGmSto/new-cause-area-low-hanging-fruit --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

For immediate release: April 1, 2025 OXFORD, UK — The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) announced today that it will no longer identify as an "Effective Altruism" organization. "After careful consideration, we've determined that the most effective way to have a positive impact is to deny any association with Effective Altruism," said a CEA spokesperson. "Our mission remains unchanged: to use reason and evidence to do the most good. Which coincidentally was the definition of EA." The announcement mirrors a pattern of other organizations that have grown with EA support and frameworks and eventually distanced themselves from EA. CEA's statement clarified that it will continue to use the same methodologies, maintain the same team, and pursue identical goals. "We've found that not being associated with the movement we have spent years building gives us more flexibility to do exactly what we were already doing, just with better PR," [...] --- First published: April 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pyXEB5uBsuzhgj8Zz/centre-for-effective-altruism-is-no-longer-effective --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Introduction Misaligned AI systems, which have a tendency to use their capabilities in ways that conflict with the intentions of both developers and users, could cause significant societal harm. Identifying them is seen as increasingly important to inform development and deployment decisions and design mitigation measures. There are concerns, however, that this will prove challenging. For example, misaligned AIs may only reveal harmful behaviors in rare circumstances, or perceive detection attempts as threatening and deploy countermeasures – including deception and sandbagging – to evade them. For these reasons, developing a range of efforts to detect misaligned behavior, including power-seeking, deception, and sandbagging, among other capabilities, have been proposed. One important indicator, though, has been hiding in plain sight for years. In this post, we identify an underappreciated method that may be both necessary and sufficient to identify misaligned AIs: whether or not they've turned red, i.e. gone rouge. In [...] ---Outline:(01:43) Historical Evidence for Rouge AI(02:59) Recent Empirical Work(05:18) Potential Countermeasure(05:22) The EYES Eval(06:27) EYES Eval Demonstration(07:40) Future Research Directions(08:42) Conclusion--- First published: April 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uKKoj9iqj2cWKsjrt/mitigating-risks-from-rouge-ai --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Hi everybody! I'm Conor. I run the 80,000 Hours Job Board. Or I used to. As of today — April 1 — we are becoming Job Birds! We've been talking to users for the last few years about making this change, and people have overwhelmingly been in favour (remember, there are six or more birds for every human on Earth). Whether it's the daily emails asking me to finally switch, or the flocks of people accosting me at conferences to urge a migration to Job Birds, the demand is overwhelming! Luckily, the wait is over! I've included an FAQ below of the most common questions we receive. FAQ Do these birds have jobs? In a sense, no. In another, preferred sense, definitely! They have roles in ecological niches. What's a good bird to get started with? The peregrine falcon. What's the theory of change? Birds are [...] --- First published: April 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Lee6hyYo7F5BNQJEj/80-000-hours-job-birds --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Epistemic status: highly certain, or something The Spending What We Must

In a recent Wired article about Anthropic, there's a section where Anthropic's president, Daniela Amodei, and early employee Amanda Askell seem to suggest there's little connection between Anthropic and the EA movement: Ask Daniela about it and she says, "I'm not the expert on effective altruism. I don't identify with that terminology. My impression is that it's a bit of an outdated term". Yet her husband, Holden Karnofsky, cofounded one of EA's most conspicuous philanthropy wings, is outspoken about AI safety, and, in January 2025, joined Anthropic. Many others also remain engaged with EA. As early employee Amanda Askell puts it, "I definitely have met people here who are effective altruists, but it's not a theme of the organization or anything". (Her ex-husband, William MacAskill, is an originator of the movement.) This led multiple people on Twitter to call out how bizarre this is: In my [...] --- First published: March 30th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/53Gc35vDLK2u5nBxP/anthropic-is-not-being-consistently-candid-about-their --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

How the dismal science can help us end the dismal treatment of farm animals By Martin Gould Note: This post was crossposted from the Open Philanthropy Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post. This year we'll be sharing a few notes from my colleagues on their areas of expertise. The first is from Martin. I'll be back next month. - Lewis In 2024, Denmark announced plans to introduce the world's first carbon tax on cow, sheep, and pig farming. Climate advocates celebrated, but animal advocates should be much more cautious. When Denmark's Aarhus municipality tested a similar tax in 2022, beef purchases dropped by 40% while demand for chicken and pork increased. Beef is the most emissions-intensive meat, so carbon taxes hit it hardest — and Denmark's policies don't even [...] --- First published: March 20th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ehehif6dmiQco7bJA/five-insights-from-farm-animal-economics --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

“I” refers to Zach, the Centre for Effective Altruism's CEO. Oscar is CEA's Chief of Staff. We are grateful to all the CEA staff and community members who have contributed insightful input and feedback (directly and indirectly) during the development of our strategy and over many years. Mistakes are of course our own.Exec summary As one CEA, we are taking a principles-first approach to stewardship of the EA community. During the search for a new CEO, the board and search committee were open to alternative strategic directions, but from the beginning of my tenure, we've committed to a strategy under which we will: Operate as one CEA, rather than winding down, breaking up or renaming the organization. Instead of optimizing for each of our team's programs, we'll be optimizing for EA as a whole. Take a principles-first approach to EA, rather than becoming an AI org or otherwise re-orienting [...] ---Outline:(00:38) Exec summary(04:15) What does stewardship mean for CEA?(06:55) What does CEA's stewardship mean in practice?(08:34) Growing the EA community(14:54) Improving the EA brand(18:20) Diversifying EA funding(21:47) Strengthening CEA(23:38) Why bother?--- First published: March 28th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/QkE35oTsasMn37o7R/stewardship-cea-s-2025-26-strategy-to-reach-and-raise-ea-s-1 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

After ~7 years, I am stepping away from being the CEO of AIM and will transition to a board member. My current planned last day is December 1st, giving ample time for a smooth transition. As is true for most times a CEO or co-founder leaves an organization, this is for a pretty large variety of reasons. The biggest three are that: 1) AIM is in a stable place, 2) My counterfactual impact, and 3) My fit for founder vs. CEO roles. You can see more details on each of these in my Substack post. AIM has been one of the most meaningful parts of my life, and that's in no small part due to working with such driven and aligned people. When I first set out to create CE many years ago, I never could have envisioned we'd get to where we are today, and I have [...] --- First published: March 15th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mh652ZDuqf3Tgh3Cv/joey-aim-transition-announcement --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Note: I am not a malaria expert. This is my best-faith attempt at answering a question that was bothering me, but this field is a large and complex field, and I've almost certainly misunderstood something somewhere along the way. Summary While the world made incredible progress in reducing malaria cases from 2000 to 2015, the past 10 years have seen malaria cases stop declining and start rising. I investigated potential reasons behind this increase through reading the existing literature and looking at publicly available data, and I identified three key factors explaining the rise: Population Growth: Africa's population has increased by approximately 75% since 2000. This alone explains most of the increase in absolute case numbers, while cases per capita have remained relatively flat since 2015. Stagnant Funding: After rapid growth starting in 2000, funding for malaria prevention plateaued around 2010. Insecticide Resistance: Mosquitoes have become increasingly resistant [...] ---Outline:(00:25) Summary(02:06) Introduction(04:31) Ok, give me the 1 minute rundown on what malaria is and how we fight it?(05:22) Preventing malaria has historically meant distributing bednets(07:58) There's a lot of good evidence showing that bednets have been effective at preventing malaria(09:07) The percent of people with access to bednets and the percent of people sleeping under bednets have both stayed constant or increased since 2015(10:47) So what did cause the increase in malaria cases since 2015?(11:54) Factor 1: Population increase(17:35) Factor 2: Stagnant funding(23:21) Factor 3: Insecticide resistance(34:23) What are the relative contribution of these three components?(38:10) Factors that don't seem to be major contributors(38:27) The decline until 2015 and stagnation after do not represent trends in separate countries or regions(39:37) Removing PFAS from bednets doesn't appear to have affected experimental hut results(44:23) Anopheles stephensi isn't present in the areas with the highest rates of malaria yet(45:26) Nobody knows if climate change is making malaria worse(47:20) ConclusionsThe original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: March 16th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rxTPv3MdrsHiqK7kM/money-population-and-insecticide-resistance-why-malaria --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Cross-posted from my blog. Contrary to my carefully crafted brand as a weak nerd, I go to a local CrossFit gym a few times a week. Every year, the gym raises funds for a scholarship for teens from lower-income families to attend their summer camp program. I don't know how many Crossfit-interested low-income teens there are in my small town, but I'll guess there are perhaps 2 of them who would benefit from the scholarship. After all, CrossFit is pretty niche, and the town is small. Helping youngsters get swole in the Pacific Northwest is not exactly as cost-effective as preventing malaria in Malawi. But I notice I feel drawn to supporting the scholarship anyway. Every time it pops in my head I think, “My money could fully solve this problem”. The camp only costs a few hundred dollars per kid and if there are just 2 kids who [...] ---Outline:(01:19) You are only ever making small dents in important problems(03:06) The man who failed to fully solve a genocide(06:29) Saving starfish(07:40) Big problems are actually solved piece by pieceThe original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: March 19th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZKfFoo8ttD9NEpKHv/you-probably-won-t-solve-malaria-or-x-risk-and-that-s-ok --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

TL;DR In a sentence: We are shifting our strategic focus to put our proactive effort towards helping people work on safely navigating the transition to a world with AGI, while keeping our existing content up. In more detail: We think it's plausible that frontier AI companies will develop AGI by 2030. Given the significant risks involved, and the fairly limited amount of work that's been done to reduce these risks, 80,000 Hours is adopting a new strategic approach to focus our efforts in this area. During 2025, we are prioritising: Deepening our understanding as an organisation of how to improve the chances that the development of AI goes well Communicating why and how people can contribute to reducing the risks Connecting our users with impactful roles in this field And fostering an internal culture which helps us to achieve these goals We remain focused on impactful [...] ---Outline:(01:44) Why we're updating our strategic direction(04:02) How we hope to achieve it(05:44) Community implications(08:38) Potential questions you might have(08:42) What does this mean for non-AI cause areas?(10:44) How big a shift is this from 80k's status quo?(11:58) Are EA values still important?(13:36) What would cause us to change our approach?--- First published: March 20th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4ZE3pfwDKqRRNRggL/80-000-hours-is-shifting-our-strategic-approach-to-focus --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

In my past year as a grantmaker in the global health and wellbeing (GHW) meta space at Open Philanthropy, I've identified some exciting ideas that could fill existing gaps. While these initiatives have significant potential, they require more active development and support to move forward. The ideas I think could have the highest impact are: Government placements/secondments in key GHW areas (e.g. international development), and Expanded (ultra) high-net-worth ([U]HNW) advising Each of these ideas needs a very specific type of leadership and/or structure. More accessible options I'm excited about — particularly for students or recent graduates — could involve virtual GHW courses or action-focused student groups. I can't commit to supporting any particular project based on these ideas ahead of time, because the likelihood of success would heavily depend on details (including the people leading the project). Still, I thought it would be helpful to [...] ---Outline:(01:19) Introduction(02:30) Project ideas(02:33) Fellowships and Placements(02:37) Placement orgs for governments and think tanks(03:06) Fellowships/Placements at GHW Organizations(03:57) More, and different, effective giving organizations(04:03) More (U)HNW advising(05:14) Targeting different niche demographics(05:50) Filling more geographic gaps(06:08) Infrastructure support for GHW organizations(06:38) EA-inspired GHW courses(06:56) BlueDot Impact for GHW(07:40) Incorporating EA content into university courses(08:35) Useful GHW events(08:51) Events bringing together EA and mainstream GHD orgs(09:57) Career panels or similar(10:13) More, and different, student groups(10:18) Action-focused student groups(11:34) Policy-focused grad student groups(11:51) Less thought-through ideas(13:12) Perceived impact and fitThe original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: March 18th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pAE6zfAgceCop6vcE/projects-i-d-like-to-see-in-the-ghw-meta-space --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Hey everyone, I've been going through the EA Introductory Program, and I have to admit some of these ideas make sense, but others leave me with more questions than answers. I'm trying to wrap my head around certain core EA principles, and the more I think about them, the more I wonder: Am I misunderstanding, or are there blind spots in EA's approach? I'd really love to hear what others think. Maybe you can help me clarify some of my doubts. Or maybe you share the same reservations? Let's talk. Cause Prioritization. Does It Ignore Political and Social Reality? EA focuses on doing the most good per dollar, which makes sense in theory. But does it hold up when you apply it to real world contexts especially in countries like Uganda? Take malaria prevention. It's a top EA cause because it's highly cost effective $5,000 can save a life [...] ---Outline:(00:40) Cause Prioritization. Does It Ignore Political and Social Reality?(01:53) Long termism. A Luxury When the Present Is in Crisis?(03:01) AI Safety. A Real Threat or Just Overhyped?(04:09) Earning to Give. A Powerful Strategy or a Moral Loophole?(05:05) Global vs. Local Causes. Does Proximity Matter?(06:06) Final Thoughts: What Am I Missing?--- First published: March 16th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sanhCrJohGjAyAxLr/ea-a-view-from --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

*Disclaimer* I am writing this post in a personal capacity; the opinions I express are my own and do not represent my employer.I think that more people and orgs (especially nonprofits) should consider negotiating the cost of sizable expenses. In my experience, there is usually nothing to lose by respectfully asking to pay less, and doing so can sometimes save thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per hour. This is because negotiating doesn't take very much time[1], savings can persist across multiple years, and counterparties can be surprisingly generous with discounts. Here are a few examples of expenses that may be negotiable: For organizations Software or news subscriptions Of 35 corporate software and news providers I've negotiated with, 30 have been willing to provide discounts. These discounts range from 10% to 80%, with an average of around 40%. Leases A friend was able [...] The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: March 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pufofnCukyN3hBamw/consider-haggling --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Forethought[1] is a new AI macrostrategy research group cofounded by Max Dalton, Will MacAskill, Tom Davidson, and Amrit Sidhu-Brar. We are trying to figure out how to navigate the (potentially rapid) transition to a world with superintelligent AI systems. We aim to tackle the most important questions we can find, unrestricted by the current Overton window. More details on our website. Why we exist We think that AGI might come soon (say, modal timelines to mostly-automated AI R&D in the next 2-8 years), and might significantly accelerate technological progress, leading to many different challenges. We don't yet have a good understanding of what this change might look like or how to navigate it. Society is not prepared. Moreover, we want the world to not just avoid catastrophe: we want to reach a really great future. We think about what this might be like (incorporating [...] ---Outline:(00:34) Why we exist(01:57) Research(02:00) Research agendas(03:13) Recent work(03:34) Approach(03:37) Comparison to other efforts(04:14) Principles(05:35) What you can do(05:39) Engage with our research(06:08) Apply to work with us(06:25) FundingThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: March 11th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6JnTAifyqz245Kv7S/forethought-a-new-ai-macrostrategy-group --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a Draft Amnesty Week post. Last year, an EA community member who was scoping out some projects related to diversity and inclusion in EA noted that one challenge was not knowing what had been tried before. I drafted this summary but never got it out the door. The atmosphere around DEI interventions, in the US at least, is different than it was when I first drafted this. I'm not intending this as commentary as anything going on currently, but as finally publishing an old draft. The main update I've made is to add some demographic data that recently came out from the 2024 EA Survey. I don't mean this post as a claim that EAs have done all the right things. I mean it as a historical record so people can better gauge what's been tried over time, what might be worth trying differently, and [...] ---Outline:(01:17) Organizational / program efforts(08:07) Efforts in hiring / staffing at EA orgs(11:58) Other research / content / major discussions in the community(21:40) Demographic trends over time(21:45) Location(22:39) Race(23:28) Gender(24:35) Political views(25:06) Age(25:20) Experiences at eventsThe original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. The original text contained 3 images which were described by AI. --- First published: March 4th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6FLvBaEwiiqf9JGEJ/history-of-projects-and-trends-on-diversity-in-ea --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Watching what is happening in the world -- with lots of renegotiation of institutional norms within Western democracies and a parallel fracturing of the post-WW2 institutional order -- I do think we, as a community, should more seriously question our priors on the relative value of surgical/targeted and broad system-level interventions. Speaking somewhat roughly, with EA as a movement coming of age in an era where democratic institutions and the rule-based international order were not fundamentally questioned, it seems easy to underestimate how much the world is currently changing and how much riskier a world of stronger institutional and democratic backsliding and weakened international norms might be. Of course, working on these issues might be intractable and possibly there's nothing highly effective for EAs to do on the margin given much attention to these issues from society at large. So, I am not here to confidently state [...] --- First published: March 9th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/MWomDeHBi2D33PzRx/in-a-time-of-rapid-change-we-should-re-examine-system-level --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

By Jim Chapman, Linkedin. TL;DR: In 2023, I was a 57-year-old urban planning consultant and non-profit professional with 30 years of leadership experience. After talking with my son about rationality, effective altruism, and AI risks, I decided to pursue a pivot to existential risk reduction work. The last time I had to apply for a job was in 1994. By the end of 2024, I had spent ~740 hours on courses, conferences, meetings with ~140 people, and 21 job applications. I hope that by sharing my experiences, you can gain practical insights, inspiration, and resources to navigate your career transition, especially for those who are later in their career and interested in making an impact in similar fields. I share my experience in 5 sections - sparks, take stock, start, do, meta-learnings, and next steps. [Note - as of 03/05/2025, I am still pursuing my career shift.] Sparks – [...] ---Outline:(01:16) Sparks - 2022(02:29) Take Stock - 2023(03:36) Start(04:15) Do - 2023 and 2024(05:13) Learn(10:46) Get a Job(14:21) Create a Job(16:49) Contractor(18:16) Meta-Learnings(19:50) Next Steps(20:48) Appendix A - Helpful FeedbackThe original text contained 30 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. The original text contained 9 images which were described by AI. --- First published: March 4th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/FcKpAGn75pRLsoxjE/from-comfort-zone-to-frontiers-of-impact-pursuing-a-late-1 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

This is a Draft Amnesty Week draft. It may not be polished, up to my usual standards, fully thought through, or fully fact-checked.  Commenting and feedback guidelines: I'm posting this to get it out there. I'd love to see comments that take the ideas forward, but criticism of my argument won't be as useful at this time, in part because I won't do any further work on it. This is a post I drafted in November 2023, then updated for an hour in March 2025. I don't think I'll ever finish it so I am just leaving it in this draft form for draft amnesty week (I know I'm late). I don't think it is particularly well calibrated, but mainly just makes a bunch of points that I haven't seen assembled elsewhere. Please take it as extremely low-confidence and there being a low-likelihood of this post describing these dynamics perfectly. I've [...] ---Outline:(02:45) Deference is everywhere(04:39) Funders often lack information you have access to(08:29) Funders often don't share your values(09:58) Funders have experience in grantmaking. That is different from experience doing the work.(11:48) What can we do to make this better?(12:22) There are lots of issues with over-updating on this!--- First published: March 3rd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/adZEA4SEkab4SZhTx/on-deference-to-funders --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I feel silly writing this up, but it's draft amnesty week. Caveat: I've been a visitor to several EA offices but haven't worked regularly in any of them, and maybe I'm overly nostalgic about reheated felafel. Some EA offices have catered lunch or lunch cooked on the premises every day. This is nice, but not every workplace can afford it. 5+ years ago when everything in EA was lower-budget, the main way EA offices did lunch was to provide sandwich / wrap ingredients. Ops staff would order the groceries, and would put out the spread about 15 minutes before lunchtime and microwave some of the foods. There was a designated time to show up, often 1 pm. This method works pretty well for a crowd because you don't all have to wait for the microwave. It was pretty flexible for different tastes and diets. People who wanted [...] --- First published: February 28th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EyXWx8stxSzgAMzJX/the-lost-art-of-the-cheap-office-lunch --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.