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EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

“AI for Animals 2025 Bay Area Retrospective” by Constance Li, AI for Animals

Apr 19, 2025
26:20
Creator website

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 [...]

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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

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First published:
April 5th, 2025

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KWpyRXzHn6JMyZiBn/ai-for-animals-2025-bay-area-retrospective

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

89% of respondents thought that participating in the conference was more impactful than how they would have otherwise spent their time.
Do the shirts look familiar?
See itemized breakdown <span>here</span> __T3A_LINK_IN_POST__.
Large group photo of conference attendees posing together in an auditorium.
Conference announcement:
Groups of people conversing outdoors near blooming magnolia trees and buildings.
Two side-by-side event images showing video conference presentations with audience.
Bar graph titled
Collection of photos showing volunteers at event socializing and dining together.
Bar graph showing
People gathered at social events, networking and dining in various settings.
Bar graph showing attendance data for events in three locations, 2023-2025.
Bar graph comparing new versus impactful connections at an event.
Events schedule showing AI and animal-focused activities from Feb 26-Mar 2.
Collage of classroom and workshop scenes showing teaching and volunteer activities. The images show various educational or workshop settings with people at whiteboards, attendees in sessions, and volunteers in light blue shirts engaging in discussions and presentations.
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. There's 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.

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