EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

EA Forum Team
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Sep 4, 2024 • 14min

“I have stepped aside from my role as Executive Director because I think it will help more animals” by KirstyHenderson

This is a link post. Summary During the last four years, our work for animals in Anima International faced several big challenges. I took on the role of Executive Director to help cement the foundations of the organization. Now that we want to build on these foundations to achieve even more impact for animals, we need different skills at the helm. Anima International leadership has appointed Jakub Stencel as the new Interim Executive Director. I have moved from the role of Executive Director to that of President. After four years as Executive Director of Anima International, I pushed for my colleague Jakub Stencel to take over the role at the beginning of July. No, I’m not off chasing new opportunities or planning a quiet retreat. I’m not taking time off to be with my family (possibly my family are breathing a sigh of relief right now) And no [...] --- First published: September 3rd, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/M9XCb4qExjceFGkXx/i-have-stepped-aside-from-my-role-as-executive-director --- 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.
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Aug 31, 2024 • 3min

“Small simple way to promote effective giving while making people feel good” by DMMF

I'm a big fan of small, underrated acts that can have outsized positive impact (both in terms EA and in life more generally). I'd like to share one such practice I've incorporated into my life this year that brings me joy and I think some others here would enjoy: redirecting money owed to me towards Givewell recommended charities. Whenever someone owes me money or is trying to solicit my time, instead of asking for direct payment, I request they instead contribute that amount to a GiveWell-recommended charity. This comes up in several contexts: Friends repaying me miscellaneous expenses Buyers purchasing items from me (ie selling something used online) Being solicited for my participation in programs or sales pitches I appreciate this just sounds like "Isn't this just offsetting your own charitable giving?" But I believe this approach creates additional value beyond the off-set donation: Exposure Effect: By [...] --- First published: August 22nd, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rCvaLdjefLoxtfcrv/small-simple-way-to-promote-effective-giving-while-making --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Aug 22, 2024 • 58sec

“My article in The Nation — California’s AI Safety Bill Is a Mask-Off Moment for the Industry” by Garrison

This is a link post. I wrote an article on California AI safety bill SB 1047 for The Nation and the reaction from the AI industry, investors, and the broader tech community. The story was informed by conversations with over a dozen relevant sources and comes shortly before the bill faces a floor vote in the California Assembly. I think it's useful to understand how industry responds to attempts to regulate AI, and centered my analysis on that topic. If you're interested in helping share the article, I made a Tweet thread. --- First published: August 15th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/JfzX3oC4ZnotmrFWg/my-article-in-the-nation-california-s-ai-safety-bill-is-a --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Aug 20, 2024 • 25min

“CEA will continue to take a ‘principles-first’ approach to EA” by Zachary Robinson

Introduction I’m Zach, the new CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA). As I step into my role, I want to explain the principles that I think make EA special and share how CEA will continue to promote them. In this post, I will: Highlight the principles that I think are core to EA, and explain why CEA will continue to promote them above and beyond any single or set of cause area(s). Explain what being principles-first means in practice for CEA[1]. Explain how encouraging people to act on EA principles can still lead to some prioritization decisions between causes, how CEA has navigated those decisions in the past, and what factors influence those decisions. Share a little bit about my background and how I’ve personally engaged with these principles. CEA will continue a “principles-first” approach to EA In my role at CEA, I embrace an [...] ---Outline:(00:06) Introduction(01:04) CEA will continue a “principles-first” approach to EA(03:33) Why principles-first?(09:58) What exactly does principles-first mean for CEA?(10:40) Sometimes we’ll prioritize some causes over others(12:05) Cause prioritization examples(14:53) Factors that shape CEA's cause prioritization(19:50) The role of principles in my path through EA(23:48) AcknowledgmentsThe original text contained 16 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: August 20th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jPDByBkEdPt2SF2LL/cea-will-continue-to-take-a-principles-first-approach-to-ea --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Aug 20, 2024 • 16min

“The Tech Industry is the Biggest Blocker to Meaningful AI Safety Regulations” by Garrison

This is a link post. If you enjoy this, please consider subscribing to my Substack. My latest reporting went up in The Nation yesterday: It's about the tech industry's meltdown in response to SB 1047, a California bill that would be the country's first significant attempt to mandate safety measures from developers of AI models more powerful and expensive than any yet known. Rather than summarize that story, I’ve added context from some past reporting as well as new reporting on two big updates from yesterday: a congressional letter asking Newsom to veto the bill and a slate of amendments. The real AI divide After spending months on my January cover story in Jacobin on the AI existential risk debates, one of my strongest conclusions was that the AI ethics crowd (focused on the tech's immediate harms) and the x-risk crowd (focused on speculative, extreme risks) should recognize their shared [...] ---Outline:(00:56) The real AI divide(03:18) The congressional letter(05:58) The turning tides(09:29) Capitalism vs. democracy(10:15) Yesterday's amendments to SB 1047--- First published: August 16th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/snto3JZs6HrgvsoJG/the-tech-industry-is-the-biggest-blocker-to-meaningful-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.
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Aug 17, 2024 • 8min

“This chart is right. Most interventions don’t do much. (Cameroon experience)” by EffectiveHelp - Cameroon

This chart is so right. The local charity environment in Cameroon is probably helping much less people than you imagine. We ran an effectiveness contest that aligns with this research perfectly. In 2021 we created an EA group in Cameroon. We had multiple seminars covering the basics of Effective Altruism. By the end of 2022, the group got so excited that we created a charity. “We” are a group of humanitarian/development workers in Cameroon, all currently employed in this field of work. Some of the basic EA principles resonated a lot. Such as the feeling that some activities and projects don’t really help much and that somewhere, sometimes, there is “real impact”. So we created this charity to help steer organizations towards real impact, and help them become “more effective”. We tried a couple of things: We offered consultancy services, starting for free, to local charities. We started a [...] The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: August 16th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/TcMhE3SypnE9oLpoE/this-chart-is-right-most-interventions-don-t-do-much --- 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.
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Aug 15, 2024 • 20min

“Presenting five new effective giving initiatives” by CE, Ben Williamson

Introduction In May 2024, Ambitious Impact (AIM) ran a program to incubate new effective giving initiatives (EGIs) in partnership with Giving What We Can. In short, EGIs focus on raising awareness and funneling public and philanthropic donations to the most cost-effective charities worldwide. In the last few years, several Effective Giving Initiatives, such as Doneer Effectief, Effektiv Spenden, and Giving What We Can, have moved millions in funding to the best charities globally. The success of these and other similar organizations suggests that further initiatives in this space could be highly beneficial, given that many highly effective charities are bottlenecked by access to funding. This article introduces five new effective giving initiatives incubated through the program we ran earlier this year in their own words. It summarizes their country of operation, near-term plans, targets, and any room for additional seed funding.[1]Organization SummariesEllis Impact Co-founders: Fernando Martin-Gullans, Helene [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Introduction(01:10) Organization Summaries(01:14) Ellis Impact(01:42) Background (why is this a promising country/angle for an EGI?)(02:51) Near-term plans(03:25) Targets (reach/giving multiplier/etc.)(03:48) Room for more funding(05:02) Benefficienza(05:28) Background (why is this a promising country/angle for an EGI?)(06:10) Near-term plans(06:51) Targets (reach/giving multiplier/etc.)(07:05) Room for more funding(07:48) Mieux Donner(08:14) Background(10:00) Near-term plans(11:28) Targets(11:57) Room for more funding(12:44) Effectief Geven(13:16) Background(14:07) Near-term plans(14:57) Targets(15:13) Room for more funding(15:41) Impactful Giving(16:06) Background (why is this a promising country/angle for an EGI?)(17:43) Near-term plans(18:39) Targets (reach/giving multiplier/etc.)(19:08) Room for more fundingThe original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration. --- First published: August 13th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qq4KtwJHtCTLPqdy6/presenting-five-new-effective-giving-initiatives --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Aug 14, 2024 • 10min

“Announcing the $200k EA Community Choice” by Austin

This is a link post. Manifund is hosting a $200k funding round for EA community projects, where the grant decisions are made by you. You can direct $100-$800 of funding towards the projects that have helped with your personal journey as an EA. Your choices then decide how $100k in matching will be allocated, via quadratic funding! Sign up here to get notified when the projects are live, or read on to learn more! Timeline Phase 1: Project registrations open (Aug 13) Project organizers can now create a page for their projects here, to raise funding as part of this EA Community Choice round. Community members can sign up for updates here, or recommend projects to sign up here. Phase 2: Community members receive funds (Aug 20) We’ll give everyone $100 to donate; more if you’ve been active in the EA community. Fill out a 2-minute form [...] ---Outline:(00:35) Timeline(03:22) What is an EA community project?(05:23) FAQ(09:31) Get involved!--- First published: August 14th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GgYfqrATFzLAaPdct/announcing-the-usd200k-ea-community-choice --- 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.
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Aug 14, 2024 • 6min

“FarmKind’s Illusory Offer” by Jeff Kaufman

While the effective altruism movement has changed a lot over time, one of the parts that makes me most disappointed is the steady creep of donation matching. It's not that donation matching is objectively very important, but the early EA movement's principled rejection of a very effective fundraising strategy made it clear that we were committed to helping people understand the real impact of their donations. Over time, as people have specialized into different areas of EA, with community-building and epistemics being different people from fundraising, we've become less robust against the real-world incentives of "donation matching works". Personally, I would love to see a community-wide norm against EA organizations setting up donation matches. Yes, they bring in money, but at the cost of misleading donors about their impact and unwinding a lot of what we, as a community, are trying to build. [1] To the extent that [...] --- First published: August 9th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/9W2iWyWjfoYaGDZcG/farmkind-s-illusory-offer --- 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.
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Aug 11, 2024 • 56sec

[Linkpost] “New video from Ali Abdaal (5.74m YT subscribers): Why I’m giving 10% of my income to charity (forever)” by Giving What We Can

This is a link post. This new video from Ali Abdaal (which we did not sponsor in any way) covers his decision to take the 10% Pledge back in 2019, and why he decide that his business should take the Company Pledge to give 10% of profits in 2024. Ali covers some of the core arguments for effective giving, as well as his own reaction and thought process when deciding to pledge. --- First published: August 9th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sLwP2D6WpLMFxjEK5/new-video-from-ali-abdaal-5-74m-yt-subscribers-why-i-m Linkpost URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5-QN35AJq0 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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