Effective Altruism News
Effective Altruism News
- This week’s issue is a guest post by Henry Josephson, who is a research manager at UChicago’s XLab and an AI governance intern at Google DeepMind.
- One reason to make a lot of money is to get a good spot on the league table of rich people. [...] Being the richest person in the world does seem cooler than being the second-richest person on the world, though I doubt that your consumption basket changes much between those two spots. [...] And so you might imagine that the design of the league tables could motivate behavior.
- This influential paper purported to show that AI greatly increased innovation. MIT has asked for it to be retracted. There are some dodgy signals, like the student in question apparently registering a domain name associated with a firm, which then complained to WIPO about it. It could still be the case that AI greatly increases innovation, but, I wouldn't trust this paper.
- On the anniversary of the 2023 Senate hearing on artificial intelligence, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemingly changes his tune.
- Giving to charities doing work overseas could be one of the most impactful ways to give, even if it can be harder to connect emotionally. But how much more good does donating overseas do? 🤔 Watch the full video via the link in our bio to find out Watch the full video to find out: https://youtu.be/ekIRVhbpiQw
- During our recent team retreat, the CEA Online Team discussed the state of our various projects, what potential new projects we could spend our capacity on, and what data and M&E we could use to determine how to prioritize our time. As part of our discussion about the state of the EA Forum, we considered a few ways we could run it at a lower cost.
- Listen now | Scott Eastman has been professionally forecasting for over a decade with major forecasting groups, some of which advise the US intelligence community and executive branch.
- Thanks to Jeff, Max Taylor, Joanna Michalska, Albert Didriksen and Koen van Pelt for feedback on this post. All mistakes are my own. This post does not necessarily reflect the views of my employer. AI development is happening fast and the implications could be numerous and fundamentally transformative for the animal movement. There is a lot to be won, but a lot at risk as well.
- Transformer Weekly: Automated AI R&D, a regulatory moratorium, and deals with the Middle East...
- 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.
- The recent activist implosion is a microcosm of a bigger problem
- This analysis critiques a disaster recovery program for U.S. farmers, evaluating producer participation trends over the past 15 years. The post Relief Or Reliance? How U.S. Farmers Use The Livestock Indemnity Program appeared first on Faunalytics.
- Editors’ Note: Michele Fugiel Gartner offers an outline of the history of foundation staff role development, adapted from an article, co-written with Tobias Jung and Alina Baluch, published in The Foundation Review (2023). In today’s polarized political landscape, philanthropy is under increasing scrutiny, from calls for greater transparency to more profound challenges about legitimacy and …...
- In Ghana, we’ve launched a programme to strengthen the civil society representation of women with disabilities and help break down barriers to inclusion.
- How good ideas spread
- just some thoughts
- Towards indicative-verb activity lists
- Air travel is remarkably, astonishingly safe. Every year, commercial US airlines take more than 800 million domestic passengers to their destinations, and in a typical year, zero of them are killed and very few are injured. It’s a track record made possible by a fairly intense commitment to safety. But increasingly over the last few […]...
- On this episode, Jeff Sebo joins me to discuss artificial consciousness, substrate-independence, possible tensions between AI risk and AI consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and cognitive complexity, and how intuitive versus intellectual approaches guide our understanding of these topics.
- The post Evaluating AI for Learning: A Framework appeared first on Precision Development.
- World Health Assembly Nutrition Targets gloireri Fri, 05/16/2025 - 13:02 World Health Assembly Nutrition Targets. WHA Global Nutrition Stunting Target 2012-2025 : Achieve a 40% reduction in the number of children under-5 who are stunted. WHA Global Nutrition Overweight Target 2012-2025: Ensure that there is no increase in childhood overweight. 78th World Health Assembly (WHA).
- Published: 16 May 2025
- How can storytelling shape our visions of the future? Ada Palmer—historian, science fiction writer, and futurist—brings a unique perspective on how worldbuilding can be a powerful tool for exploring complex ideas. In this conversation with Beatrice Erkers, she shares her perspective on worldbuilding and storytelling, and her recommendations for how we can think in new ways about the future.
- The post Rapport trimestriel de Living Goods – 1er trimestre 2025 appeared first on Living Goods.
- ⬇️⬇️⬇️ L'épisode entier ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://youtu.be/WKWytFlZGbI
- We just published an interview: Emergency pod: Don't believe OpenAI's "nonprofit" spin (with Tyler Whitmer). Listen on Spotify, watch on Youtube, or click through for other audio options, the transcript, and related links. Episode summary. There’s memes out there in the press that this was a big shift. I don’t think [that’s] the right way to be thinking about this situation….
- The post Living Goods Q1 2025 Stakeholder Report appeared first on Living Goods.
- This is a modified version of a similar announcement on LessWrong, where the same service exists. At the bottom of the EA Forum post editor, if you have at least 200 global karma, you may have noticed this button. Occasionally, someone clicks the button, and is jumpscared when it starts an Intercom chat with a professional editor (me), asking what sort of feedback they'd like.
- Though I got my PhD in formal political theory and spent the last year studying culture, I didn’t until a few days ago notice the big connections between politics and culture.
- Some years test our strength. Others reveal it. This past year reminded me again that Seva’s story is one of resilience – not just the resilience of the communities we serve but of a mission that continues to thrive through challenge, change, and time. And at the heart of that resilience is you. When we ….
- To sew is to imagine what could be – how vibrant green cotton and purple thread might come together to create something beautiful. For Sebastiani Ramos Quilaja, a warm-hearted K’iche’ woman with a gift for sewing, it was a way to tell stories, preserve her Guatemalan tradition, and bring joy. As cataracts clouded her vision, …. The post The Art of Seeing first appeared on Seva Foundation.
- Seva partners are ready to see you and your siblings now. Children inherit many traits – green eyes, curly hair, athletic ability. They can also share vision problems. If one sibling needs glasses due to issues like nearsightedness or cataracts, the others may too. That’s why Seva’s partners in Tamil Nadu, India, launched the sibling ….
- Seva piloted primary eye care Vision Centers (VCs) in Nepal in 1989 to provide needed services to people living in remote villages scattered across the Himalayas. Since then, Seva has established 266 VCs across 12 countries, bringing access to eye care to over 29 million people. The Belauri VC in Kanchanpur District, Nepal is the …. The post VCs at-a-glance first appeared on Seva Foundation.
- Seva founded the Pyuthan District Eye Care Center in July 1993. Currently there is a proposal to rename it the Narendra-Gayetri District Eye Care Center to honor the remarkable couple behind its creation, Narendra and Gayetri Shrestha. Local business owners in Pyuthan, the Shresthas, have long been dedicated to uplifting their community. They run a ….
- Rich Gosse has poured his heart into two passions for the past couple of decades: bringing single people together and supporting Seva. Rich founded The Society of Professional Singles decades ago and has been nudging Cupid ever since. Every year, he hosts over 50 mixers, trips, and parties where people meet face-to-face, just like in ….
- Dear Seva and Remidio, I was just soaking in the sights and sounds of Bengaluru, India when, bam, I got the call we Pristine 5.0 cameras wait for – the Burundi eye clinic was finally ready for my arrival. To get me here, another Prisitine 5.0 – who works at a much bigger health facility …. The post A letter from Pristine 5.0 first appeared on Seva Foundation.
- We should probably try to understand the failure modes of the alignment schemes that AGI developers are most likely to attempt. I still think Instruction-following AGI is easier and more likely than value aligned AGI. I’ve updated downward on the ease of IF alignment, but upward on how likely it is.
- Take part in our study! Before we get to this week's article... We'd love if you'd participate in our meditation and mood-tracking study...
- Once we have AGIs, we'll likely get ASI (artificial superintelligence) quite soon. Here's why. #ai #artificialintelligence #animation #science #extinction #rationalanimations #singularity...
- Executive Summary. Problem: 70% of 10-year-olds in Low-and-Middle Income Countries can’t read. In India, foundational literacy remains critically low, especially in Hindi-speaking regions. Intervention: An AI-powered app based on a proven pedagogy, which achieved +0.4 SD learning gains (equivalent to ~2 years of business as usual schooling) in 45-day RCTs involving thousands of government...
- Should you care about the suffering of bugs? For most people, it’s a laughable question. But for those who really, really care about animal welfare, there’s a certain intellectual journey that might lead them to take it seriously. It goes something like this: Go even further, and they’ll discover the emerging industry of insect farming, […]...
- Mercy For Animals just launched our first-ever campaign exclusively targeting a Canadian grocery retailer. Here’s why. The Problem In 2016, Empire—the parent company behind major Canadian grocery brands Sobeys, Longo’s, Safeway, Farm Boy, and others—publicly promised to go 100% cage-free by 2025. Nearly a decade later, despite ruling over some of Canada’s largest and most […].
- The post Emergency pod: Don’t believe OpenAI’s “nonprofit” spin (with Tyler Whitmer) appeared first on 80,000 Hours.
- Some advice
- SB 79 Could Bring Up to $1 Billion to City Coffers; Help Solve Housing Shortage Los Angeles – The City of Los Angeles could largely solve its $1 billion budget shortfall by allowing more homes to be built near its…. The post NEW REPORT: How Land Use Reform Can Solve the Los Angeles <span class="dewidow">Budget Crisis </span> appeared first on California YIMBY.
- Without transparency, society is flying blind toward potentially catastrophic AI capabilities
- Labs routinely use “sentinel” rodents to test for pathogens within their facilities and not as part of any experimental study. This review confirms a superior alternative to these tests, yet institutional resistance persists. The post Rethinking Rodent Health Monitoring In Labs appeared first on Faunalytics.
- The authors of Abundance talk with Michael Pollan about the pace of governance, the environmental questions of our age, and the federal policies that drive scientific progress.
- Fission basics #1
- Profit for Good Conference — 11 June 2025 (livestream). Peter Singer and the School for Moral Ambition are hosting the first Profit for Good conference on Wednesday 11 June. Speakers include Peter Singer, Rutger Bregman, Humanitix co-founder Adam McCurdie, Newman’s Own Foundation CEO Alex Amouyel, BRAC CEO Asif Saleh, and others building companies that commit most or all profits to charity.
- Law-Following AI was covered in the Lawfare Daily podcast, and summarized in print on Lawfare.
- At Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE), we are committed to ensuring that every donation is put to the best possible use. As part of this commitment, we are conducting an internal assessment of our programmatic work and we would love to hear from you. We are seeking your input to better understand how familiar the EA community is with our work, how people use our work, and the positive and...
- 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.
- Empire’s empty promise leaves hens caged and consumers misled. TORONTO — Nearly a decade ago, Empire Company Limited — the Nova Scotia-based parent company of some of Canada’s biggest grocery brands, including Sobeys — promised to go 100% cage-free by the end of 2025. Today, that promise lies broken. Empire retracted its original deadline, did […].
- It's more to do with automation and state-of-the art manufacturing processes than cheap labour.
- [Note: I (the primary author) am writing this entirely in a personal capacity. Funding for the bounty and donations mentioned in this post comes entirely from personal savings and the generosity of friends and family. Colleagues at Open Philanthropy (my employer) reviewed this post at my request, but this project is completely unaffiliated with Open Philanthropy.]. .
- Finally, something good.
- GiveWell recently published a cost-effectiveness analysis on contraception: Valuing Contraception in GiveWell’s Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | GiveWell. At MSI Reproductive Choices, we welcome GiveWell’s cost-effectiveness analysis on contraception in low and middle-income countries. The findings affirm what we’ve long seen: access to contraception transforms lives – not just for individuals,...
- A new outlet for discussion in Dublin
- Hey why not do something useful for a change? Apply for Career Advising: https://80000hours.org/speak-with-us/ Other Advisors Are Available: https://www.aisafety.com/advisors AI Safety Research Career Guide: https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/ai-safety-researcher/ AI Governance Guide: https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/ai-policy-and-strategy/ Job Board:
- Hi everyone,. Fórum Animal is pleased to announce that Piscicultura Água Pura/Recanto Sol Nascente has publicly committed to improving the welfare of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)! The company has reinforced its commitment in 2025 to continue implementing the following practices: · Daily assessment of water quality. · Removal of predators from tanks.
- The new pope begins his tenure while Trump tours the Middle East
- EA Forum Digest #240 Hello!. No news this week. Enjoy the posts! — JP (for the Forum team) We recommend: Better Air Purifiers (Jeff Kaufman 🔸, 3 min, link-post). Animal Advocacy Forecasting farmed animal numbers in 2033 (Hannah McKay🔸, Sagar K Shah, Rethink Priorities, 10 min). How To Help Neglected Animals (Bentham's Bulldog, 10 min).
- Positions worth the application headache | Job Blast 🚀 🫵 Don’t let us distract you from your consulting job. We would NEVER do that. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ...
- tl;dr it seems that you can get basic tiling to work by proving that there will be safety proofs in the future, rather than trying to prove safety directly. "Tiling" here roughly refers to a state of affairs in which we have a program that is able to prove itself safe to run.
- Summary: Both our (UK AISI's) debate safety case sketch and Anthropic’s research agenda point at systematic human error as a weak point for debate. This post talks through how one might strengthen a debate protocol to partially mitigate this. Not too many errors in unknown places.
- Or tries to "define them out of existence"
- Ahead of AVA U.S. 2025, we share our insights on Latin American animal advocacy needs gleaned from AVA LATAM 2024. The post How Latine Animal Advocates Use Research: Insights From AVA LATAM 2024 appeared first on Faunalytics.
- Diante da AVA U.S. 2025, compartilhamos nossas ideias sobre as necessidades de defesa dos animais na América Latina, obtidas na AVA LATAM 2024. The post Como ativistas de animais latines usam pesquisas: Insights da AVA LATAM appeared first on Faunalytics.
- Look! A therapy technique people don't already know!
- Freedom is a skill you can build
- Close to 300 rat caregivers responded to a survey about rat personality, most commonly describing them with positive adjectives like “friendly” and “affectionate.”. The post Tiny Companions, Big Personalities: How Caregivers See Rats appeared first on Faunalytics.
- The promise of SGLT2 inhibitors
- If the year 2025 has had a message for developing countries, it’s this: “You’re on your own.” Most notably, the Trump administration began with an unprecedented and ongoing assault on foreign aid, including global health programs. But there have been further ill omens. Other rich countries, including the UK and France, followed the US example […]...
- Manager, Programme Monitoring and Improvement (PMI) admin_inox Wed, 05/14/2025 - 12:30 vacancy_id SYS-1272 location Abuja, Nigeria Contract type Fixed Term Duration 24 Months Frontend apply URL https://jobs.gainhealth.org/vacancies/1272/apply/ Closing date Tue, 05/27/2025 - 12:00 Department Research, monitoring and evaluation about_the_role <p justify;\">The Global Alliance...
- The Trump administration is not known for particularly prioritizing animal welfare. But in its first few months, alongside announcements that it would seek to gut federal funding for scientific research, Trump officials have taken steps toward a goal that animal advocates have been championing for decades: the end of animal experimentation. On April 10, the […]...
- skip the gridlock and take the faster route to abundance
- It used to be hard. And now it's easy.
- Crossposted from my blog: 1 Reasons to care. (Please share this article so that more people read it and give to these extremely high-impact organizations. It takes roughly two seconds to restack an article, and has some chance of helping thousands or millions of animals). "I say!" murmured Horton. "I've never heard tell. Of a small speck of dust that is able to yell.
- The standard model of normative ethics The standard model of particle physics describes all the elementary particles and the interactions between those particles through the three strongest forces of nature. This model is elegant, as it can be summarized in … Lees verder →...
- BRAC International partners with J-PAL South Asia to build evidence and support the roll-out of Inclusive Livelihoods programs in India BRAC International and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia at IFMR have entered into a partnership to enhance the research, monitoring and evaluation components of the Samaveshi Aajeevika Yojana (SAY) and Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana...
- An actual adult for once
- Location: Remotely located in or with easy access to London. Reports to: Chief Programmes Officer, Nico Muzi. Salary: £75,000-85,000. Term: Full-time employee. Contract type: Permanent contract with a six-month probation period. The Organization Madre Brava is an international climate organization with the vision to achieve 100% sustainable, healthy, affordable food for all.
- Considering a sociology degree, currently studying, or already graduated? This guide will take you through some of the most promising career paths you could enter with a background in sociology. These aren’t just any careers. At Probably Good, we believe your career is one of the most significant opportunities you... Read more...
- Considering a computer science degree, currently studying, or already graduated? This guide will take you through some of the most promising career paths you could enter with a background in computer science. These aren’t just any careers. At Probably Good, we believe your career is one of the most significant... Read more...
- Considering a journalism degree, currently studying, or already graduated? This guide will take you through some of the most promising career paths you could enter with a background in journalism. These aren’t just any careers. At Probably Good, we believe your career is one of the most significant opportunities you... Read more...
- Considering a communications degree, currently studying, or already graduated? This guide will take you through some of the most promising career paths you could enter with a background in communications. These aren’t just any careers. At Probably Good, we believe your career is one of the most significant opportunities you... Read more...
- Considering a history degree, currently studying, or already graduated? This guide will take you through some of the most promising career paths you could enter with a background in history. These aren’t just any careers. At Probably Good, we believe your career is one of the most significant opportunities you... Read more...
- Discuss...
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