Effective Altruism News
Effective Altruism News
- Despite setbacks, battery cages are on the retreat
- “China wants it all, and they can have it"...
- Zach Robinson, CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism, challenges the misconception that EA is populated by "cold, uncaring, spreadsheet-obsessed robots.". In this EA Global London 2025 opening talk, he argues that most people in EA are driven BY their feelings—anger about global health gaps, sadness about animal suffering, fear about AI risks—not despite them. The difference?
- Researchers investigate the experiences of zoo visitors interacting with lion cubs, shedding light on the cubs’ effectiveness as species “ambassadors.”. The post Lion Cub Tourism: Perceptions, Motivations, And Expectations appeared first on Faunalytics.
- Flooding the zone
- Once we expand to other star systems, we may begin a self-propagating expansion of human civilisation throughout the galaxy. However, there are existential risks potentially capable of destroying a galactic civilisation, like self-replicating machines, strange matter, and vacuum decay.
- Thank you to Arepo and Eli Lifland for looking over this article for errors. I am sorry that this article is so long. Every time I thought I was done with it I ran into more issues with the model, and I wanted to be as thorough as I could. I’m not going to blame anyone for skimming parts of this article.
- Successful fundraising isn’t just about logic; it’s about trust, your vision and your ability to manage the process...
- Distillation is cheap; how can we use it to improve safety?
- The science fiction author Isaac Asimov once came up with a set of laws that we humans should program into our robots. In addition to a first, second, and third law, he also introduced a “zeroth law,” which is so important that it precedes all the others: “A robot may not injure a human being […]...
- This is a crosspost for In Defense of "Sweatshops" by Benjamin Powell, which was originally published on Econlib on 2 June 2008. For the full treatment, see Benjamin's book Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy (Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society). “Because sweatshops are better than the available alternatives, any reforms aimed at improving the lives of workers in...
- Who can relate? 🙋♀️ Luckily, we think there’s a better way… Watch Part I and Part II of The Skeptic in our profile now.
- Science in Action: Why Science Must Lead Kenya’s Food Safety Agenda gloireri Thu, 06/19/2025 - 07:47 Every morning in Nairobi’s informal settlements, thousands of mothers head to the local market, searching for fresh vegetables to feed their families. For many, affordability is a top concern—but so is safety.
- The generational divide on belief and concern about climate change is small; there are slightly bigger gaps in what to do about it.
- A Fermi estimate – also known as a back-of-the-envelope calculation (BOTEC) or order-of-magnitude estimate — is a way to make rough but helpful estimates where precise data is unavailable. These can be used for anything – from estimating whether the world contains more wheels or doors, to how much positive... Read more...
- This is one of the memos I wrote for the 2025 Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum, which were encouraged to be highly opinionated to generate strategy discussion. In 2017, McDonald’s refused to sign the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), and instead set eight Broiler Welfare Commitments to be achieved by the end of 2024. As far as I can tell, the movement responded to this by calling it...
- Allowing denser apartment buildings along Austin’s planned light-rail lines could slash the city’s affordable housing subsidies from $8 billion to $5.5 billion while meeting housing goals that current zoning makes impossible, according to a University of Texas study. The findings….
- With group discounts
- An LLM-powered grant evaluator
- The post Updates to our list of the world’s most pressing problems appeared first on 80,000 Hours.
- New dataset, map and paper on supercomputers; an analysis of SWE-bench Verified; a compute thresholds model count interactive tool; a host of data insights and Gradient Update issues; hiring; Epoch's mission, and more.
- Imagine you’re a data scientist at a healthcare organization with a valuable diabetes dataset. Across town, another hospital has a similar dataset, and a research institution has yet another. You all want to collaborate on building a better diabetes prediction model, but sharing patient data directly is impossible due to privacy regulations, competitive concerns between […].
- in 2025 AD
- The ethical companion animal food sector is becoming hard to ignore. This blog from Jenny Mace and Andrew Knight explores the drivers of sustainable companion animal food that doesn’t depend on animal farming. A bonus factsheet addresses common concerns. The post The Expanding Market For Ethical Companion Animal Food appeared first on Faunalytics.
- If you want to win, you should not act insane
- Disclaimer: For ease of writing, I say “effective altruism says this” or “effective altruists believe that.” In reality, effective altruism is a diverse movement, and many effective altruists believe different things.
- Consider just saying what the problem is
- Can large language models harm animals? The novel Animal Harm Assessment uncovers biases and blind spots in how these models talk about animals. The post Assessing Artificial Intelligence For Animal Welfare Biases appeared first on Faunalytics.
- What would it mean to you if you could dedicate your time, talent, and energy to creating a more just and sustainable food system?. Working at New Roots Institute isn't a job for us; it's a commitment to a cause. We are a growing nonprofit dedicated to ending factory farming, and we are seeking a passionate and experienced Manager of Community Building to join our team! .
- The consultant-to-entrepreneur pipeline (and why it works) | Job Blast 🚀 Get the support you need to become an entrepreneur with a 3-month founding cohort + built-in cofounder matching. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏...
- EA Forum Digest #245 Hello!. No news this week, enjoy the digest! — Will (for the Forum team) We recommend: Rethinking the Impact of Advocating Against Dairy (Aditya, 4 min, link-post). An invasion of Taiwan is uncomfortably likely, potentially catastrophic, and we can help avoid it. (JoelMcGuire, 32 min).
- If there’s anything the Trump administration has gotten unequivocally right (besides inadvertently helping Mark Carney become prime minister of Canada), it’s this: Modern science, for all its remarkable capabilities, still remains far too dependent on one of the most primitive research methods there is — harming and killing animals. That was the message underlying a […]...
- The planning trick that created Japan's famous urbanism
- Hi everyone! This week I’m in Denver for Psychedelic Science 2025 🙂 (the Psychedelic Science hero this year floating the relevance of non-linear optics as piece of the puzzle for psychedelic action? Perhaps see: 1, 2 – featured animation is from QRI collaborator Bijan Fakhri in the first link) I’m going to be hosting a […]...
- At the end of May, I flew to Berkeley to attend LessOnline, an annual meetup of bloggers and other personalities associated with lesswrong.com and the Rationalist subculture.
- In this episode of the podcast I talk with Ivan Gayton, former mission head at Doctors Without Borders and currently obsessed with placing mapping technology in the hands of the developing world. If you prefer the written word, you can see the transcript here. Some highlights: Links and other references:
- In the latest edition of my Tactics In Practice (TIPs) series, I analyzed the research behind protest in the animal protest movement! The full resource is well worth reading for any activist who uses street demonstrations — check out the full thing here: Tactics In Practice: The Science Of Protests And Demonstrations. Key Highlights: Protest groups tend to have three main goals, shown below.
- Why it's not always good to care more about AI
- Authors: Been Kim, John Hewitt, Neel Nanda, Noah Fiedel, Oyvind Tafjord. Full paper on arXiv. . We propose a research direction called agentic interpretability. The idea of agentic interpretability stems from the observation that AI systems are becoming increasingly adept at communicating with us, verbalizing their thoughts, and providing explanations, raising the question of whether we...
- Linkpost to arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.13609. Summary: We present a scalable oversight protocol where honesty is incentivized at equilibrium. Prior debate protocols allowed a dishonest AI to force an honest AI opponent to solve a computationally intractable problem in order to win.
- (What) are people thinking?
- 10-second version of this post. Expressions of interest for our upcoming AIM Grantmaking cohorts are now open: August 11 to September 27, 2025: Focus on Food Systems / Climate / Animal Welfare philanthropy. Late 2025 or early 2026: Express interest now. Express interest through our 2-minute form here by June 30. Overview. What?
- These days, it can seem like everyone thinks they know a narcissist. This is reflected in Google Trends Data, with searches for...
- In her office nestled in the corner of constellation, Amina is checking in with her employee Diego about his project – a new AI alignment technique. It’s 8pm and the setting sun is filling Amina’s office with a red glow. Diego is clearly running a sleep deficit, and 60% of Amina's mind is on a paper deadline next week. 1: Hopelessness.
- A TikTok user has been posting sweet videos of the tender relationship between her pig, Maple, and blind senior chihuahua—and you have to see it. In this video, which has amassed just under 50,000 views, Maple the pig very carefully joins her doggy brother in bed. You see how cautious she is as she very […].
- And that's a fact, not an opinion
- Hi FAST! . After decades of tireless advocacy, Sweden has become cage-free – a historic achievement for hens and for everyone who has stood by their side. Millions of hens once endured life in cramped cages, but thanks to Project 1882’s persistent, long-term efforts, there are now no hens kept in cages anywhere in Sweden. This breakthrough is unique.
- Households regularly shop, cook, and eat together. This study looks at how family dynamics can help or hinder the ability to pursue plant-based diets. The post How Family Influences Dietary Change appeared first on Faunalytics.
- What does responsible AI governance actually look like on the ground—and how can we influence its future directions? In this talk, Uma Kalkar draws on insights from the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI) to explore global trends shaping the future of AI governance. She explores actionable strategies for those working to ensure AI develops in ways that are safe, inclusive, and aligned.
- The annual competition invites primary school children to create artwork that promotes equality for people with disabilities around the world.
- If you're a UK voter, use this link right now (on or before 15th June), to email your MP, encouraging them to attend the upcoming debate on ending the use of cages in the UK, and asking them to support the petition.
- Veganuary are seeking brilliant people to serve as Trustees, joining our international team on our mission to create a better world for humans and animals alike. Veganuary is a global non-profit organisation, and while our name may suggest a focus on January, our work extends throughout the entire year.
- I am beyond thrilled to be joining the Target Malaria Global Communications team this summer as a Communications Assistant focused on media relations! I have just completed my final year at the University of Bristol, studying Sociology. Under this discipline I developed both theoretical and practical insights into understanding global inequalities. My academic journey has […].
- By weaving together existing railway lines, some cities can build the best transit in the world
- Open Letter Released Amid Bird Flu Crisis and Largest-Ever Global Investigation into Egg Industry [New York, NY—June 17, 2025] — Over 100 celebrities—including Nikki Glaser, Mayim Bialik, Tig Notaro, Moby, Harley Quinn Smith, Alexandra Paul, Blake Moynes, Erika Eleniak, Marco Antonio Regil, Elaine Hendrix, Tara Strong, Joanna Krupa, Daniel Newman, Brett Dier, Emma Kenney, Marcus […].
- Could Fortified Staples Fill the Gap? Mapping Iron Intake Across India: What the Data RevealsIndia has made a strong push toward food fortification in its efforts to combat iron deficiency and anaemia. But how much iron are Indians consuming from their daily diet?
- We’re delighted to announce the full return of JohnHalstead.org to the digital sphere! If you’ve been seeking our discussions on Altruism, Policy, and Philosophy in Texas, we apologize for our recent quiet period. This brief hiatus was a deliberate step to refine our platform and deepen our commitment to fostering thoughtful dialogue on critical issues … Continue reading "Resuming the...
- Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
- As the capabilities of AI models have expanded, and as the recent paradigm of test-time compute scaling has taken off, the demand for AI inference has grown enormously. Inference revenue at major AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic has been growing at a rate of 3x per year or more, even as their models continue to become smaller and cheaper compared to 2023.
- Hannaford Supermarket, Maine’s so-called trusted local retailer, is hiding behind a broken promise while generating massive profits from customers who believe they’re supporting a company with integrity. In 2016, Hannaford pledged to transition to 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. But instead of honoring that commitment, the company boldly granted itself a seven-year extension, a move […].
- and, the Gentle Singularity.
- Ed and Anna are co-first authors on this work. TL;DR: Emergent Misalignment (EM) showed that fine-tuning LLMs on insecure code caused them to become broadly misaligned. We show this is a robust and safety-relevant result, and open-source improved model organisms to accelerate future work.
- Ed and Anna are co-first authors on this work. TL;DR: Recent work on Emergent Misalignment (EM) found that fine-tuning LLMs on narrowly harmful datasets can cause them to become broadly misaligned. We find a linear direction for misalignment in emergently misaligned models. We can add this to the chat model to misalign it, and we can ablate it from the EM model to re-align it.
- Earlier this year, we launched a request for proposals (RFP) from organizations that fundraise for highly cost-effective charities. The Livelihood Impact Fund supported the RFP, as did two donors from Meta Charity Funders. We’re excited to share the results: $1,565,333 in grants to 11 organizations.
- Each year, Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) invites animal charities from around the world to apply for our in-depth evaluations. Our goal is to identify the most impactful giving opportunities for donors seeking to contribute to a world where all animals can flourish. We are thrilled to announce that 10 charities have been selected for this year’s charity evaluations, based on their excellent...
- When it comes to doing good, where you give matters just as much as how much you give. With over a million charities competing for your support, choosing the right charity to donate to can feel overwhelming. But here's the good news: with a little guidance, you can make your charity donation go dramatically further.
- Elitism in EA sparks strong emotions in people, and I worry that we are talking past each other. Rather than asking whether EA "is elitist" (which means different things to different people), this survey focuses on specific experiences and feelings to get to the real substance of the matter. This takes 5-30 minutes and your perspective matters.
- If the world is weird then so too should your ethical judgments be
- On average, to maintain the human race, each woman must have two children.
- Shifting the focus from consumers to farmers, this article explores the global trends challenging their ability to provide good animal welfare and suggests some potential solutions. The post Farmers’ Perspectives On Animal Welfare: Challenges And Solutions appeared first on Faunalytics.
- But Life is Better
- The thousand year-old blogger
- There is of course journalism as a marketing category. Headlines, the fiction that we're reading articles that were written for some local or regional paper paid for by the classified ads, correspondents covering different beats or locations. News channels or timeslots, "this just in," etc. Elon Musk has called X (né Twitter) a new news […]...
- Summer and Winter Fellowships provide an opportunity for early-career individuals or individuals new to the field of AI governance to work on a research project and learn about the field.
- The post How not to lose your job to AI appeared first on 80,000 Hours.
- The post How not to lose your job to AI appeared first on 80,000 Hours.
- Seven risks, massive opportunities, and why 2025 is make‑or‑break...
- Greetings from a world where…...
- Toby Ord is a Senior Researcher at Oxford University. We discuss the ‘scaling paradox’, inference scaling and its implications, ways to interpret trends in the length of tasks AI agents can complete, and some unpublished thoughts on lessons from scientific moratoria for the development of AGI. To see all our published research, visit forethought.org/research.
- Hi Forum,. If you're ages 15-25, you may want to apply for the Opposite of Loneliness Fellowship. Quick notes: The fellowship honors Marina Keegan, a writer who died at age 22 in 2012. I'm not sure whether Marina was aware of EA by that name, but she wrote a play called " Utility Monster" with the following plot (which reads like a good-natured parody of EA):"The play tells the story of a...
- Each year, Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) invites animal charities from around the world to apply for our in-depth evaluations. Our goal is to identify the most impactful giving opportunities for donors seeking to contribute to a world where all animals can flourish. We are thrilled to announce that 10 charities have been selected for this year’s charity evaluations, based on their excellent...
- What does it take to save a life? And is it worth giving up an expensive holiday (or two) each year for? Watch Part I and Part II of The Skeptic in our profile now.
- Rwanda’s First-Ever Food Systems Strategy Sets the Stage for Transformation gloireri Mon, 06/16/2025 - 08:42 . Rwanda is writing a new chapter in its journey toward prosperity. A journey rooted in resilience, innovation, and the power of its people.
- Rwanda’s First-Ever Food Systems Strategy Sets the Stage for Transformation gloireri Mon, 06/16/2025 - 08:42 . Rwanda is writing a new chapter in its journey toward prosperity. A journey rooted in resilience, innovation, and the power of its people.
- About us: Founded in 1989, Animal Place is one of the oldest and largest sanctuary and animal advocacy groups for farmed animals in the United States. As an animal rights organization, we promote the complete protection of farmed animals and a vegan lifestyle. If you are unfamiliar with Animal Place, visit our website before considering applying: www.animalplace.org.
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