
EA Talks
Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways you can best help others, whether through your charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Talks features presentations and discussions that can help you find something you're excited about. Lately, we've been focusing a lot on new opportunities in pandemic prevention, charity entrepreneurship, and AI safety. But we also have talks on other important topics like animal welfare, global health, nuclear security, climate change, and cause prioritization research. Most of the content is from EA Global videos, packaged for easy listening on the go. If you have feedback or would like to suggest an episode, please reach out.
Latest episodes

Aug 13, 2022 • 26min
Eliminating parasitic worm infections | Carolyn Henry | EA Global: London 2018
Schistosomiasis affects about a quarter of a million people worldwide, particularly people living in some of the world’s poorest countries. In this talk from EA Global: London 2018, Carolyn Henry of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative talks about SCI’s work against the disease, the value of buy-in from the recipients of their aid, and the importance of mentoring local government officials.This talk was taken from EA Global: London 2018. Click here to watch the talk with the video.Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 12, 2022 • 30min
SERI 2022: AI alignment and Redwood Research | Buck Shlegeris (CTO)
Buck Shlegeris is the CTO of Redwood Research. Buck previously worked at MIRI, studied computer science and physics at the Australian National University and grew up in Townsville, Australia.This talk was first published by the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Click here to view it with the video. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 11, 2022 • 53min
Prospecting for gold | Owen Cotton-Barratt | EAGxOxford 2016
How can we find the most promising ways to help others with our money and time? Owen Cotton-Barratt uses the metaphor of mining for gold to show some tools for answering this question. This was the keynote speech at the EAGxOxford 2016 conference that took place at Oxford University. Click here to view the talk with the video and slideshow. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 10, 2022 • 46min
The non-identity problem | Derek Parfit | EAGxOxford 2016
This talk is part of the EAGxOxford 2016 conference (www.eagxoxford.com) that took place at the Examination Schools in Oxford University.The recordings were produced by 'Speeding Films' and ‘The Hideout’.View the video here. Find out how to attend EA Global: https://www.eaglobal.org/. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 9, 2022 • 35min
Introduction to EA | Ajeya Cotra | EAGxBerkeley 2016
Ajeya Cotra introduces the core principles of effective altruism.This talk was taken from EA GxBerkeley 2016. Click here to watch the talk with the video.Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 8, 2022 • 32min
SERI 2022: Q&A about 80,000 Hours Career Advising | Habiba Islam
Habiba Islam is a member of 80,000 Hours' advising team. She previously served as the Senior Administrator for the Future of Humanity Institute and the Global Priorities Institute at Oxford. Before that, she qualified as a barrister and worked in management consulting, specialising in operations for public and third sector clients.This talk was first published by the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Click here to view it with the video. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 7, 2022 • 29min
SERI 2022: Structure of climate risk on high impact climate philanthropy | Johannes Ackva
Johannes Ackva joined the research team of Founders Pledge in 2019. He brings five years of experience working in a think tank advising decision-makers on climate policy, and has researched the intersection between effective and feasible climate policies. Johannes holds an M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago and an M.Sc. in Sociology with a focus on research methods from the Interuniversity Centre for Social Science Theory and Methodology at the University of Groningen.This talk was first published by the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Click here to view it with the slideshow. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 6, 2022 • 43min
SERI 2022: Well Founded and Human Compatible AI | Stuart Russell
Stuart Russell is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley, holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering, and Director of the Center for Human-Compatible AI. His book "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" (with Peter Norvig) is the standard text in AI, used in 1500 universities in 135 countries. His research covers a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence, with a current emphasis on the long-term future of artificial intelligence and its relation to humanity. This talk was first published by the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Click here to view it with the slideshow. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Aug 6, 2022 • 28min
SERI 2022: Timelines for Transformative AI and Language Model Alignment | Ajeya Cotra
Ajeya Cotra is a Senior Research Analyst at Open Philanthropy. She’s currently thinking about how difficult it may be to ensure AI systems pursue the right goals. Previously, she worked on a framework for estimating when transformative AI may be developed, as well as various cause prioritization and worldview diversification projects. She joined Open Philanthropy in July 2016 as a Research Analyst. Ajeya received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, where she co-founded the Effective Altruists of Berkeley student group and taught a course on effective altruism.This video was first published by the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.

Jun 30, 2022 • 1h 2min
Dispensers for Safe Water Experiments | Brett, Marinella, Arthur | EA Global: London 22
Brett, Marinella, and Arthur present on effective interventions for water treatment, followed by a panel discussion.Speakers: Brett Sedgewick, Marinella Capriati, Arthur Baker, Tony SenanayakeLearn more about effective altruism at: www.effectivealtruism.orgFind out more about EA Global conferences at: www.eaglobal.orgThis talk was taken from EA Global: London 2022. Click here to watch the talk with the PowerPoint presentation.Effective Altruism is a social movement dedicated to finding ways to do the most good possible, whether through charitable donations, career choices, or volunteer projects. EA Global conferences are gatherings for EAs to meet. You can also listen to this talk along with its accompanying video on YouTube.