EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

Written by Lucas Moore (Partnerships Manager) and Sjir Hoeijmakers (CEO), Giving What We Can. This memo provides updates on and a high-level overview of the effective giving landscape as of mid-2025, adapted from an earlier memo for Effective Giving Summit in June 2025. It is based largely on information gathered through our 2025 EG ecosystem pulse survey and builds on the memos we wrote for the MCF last year: 1, 2, 3, 4. Please leave a comment if you’d like us to clarify anything further. All figures are in USD. Background The effective giving ecosystem features an interdependent network of over 60 organisations trying to direct philanthropic resources to where they can do the most good, inspired by effective altruism principles and concepts such as cost-effectiveness, cause prioritisation and counterfactuality. Within this ecosystem, there are organisations identifying high-impact philanthropic opportunities (evaluators) and organisations fundraising for them (fundraisers). Many [...] ---Outline:(01:24) Key updates(07:35) Overview of the ecosystem(09:33) How much money is moved to high-impact destinations(11:59) Where money goes(13:54) Where operational funding comes from--- First published: September 12th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dm2uawLLeLbY8WNKM/updates-on-the-effective-giving-ecosystem-mcf-2025-memo --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This report is the second in a sequence detailing the results of Wave 2 of the Pulse project by Rethink Priorities (RP). Pulse is a large-scale survey of US adults aimed at tracking and understanding public attitudes towards effective giving and multiple impactful cause areas over time. Wave 2 of Pulse was fielded between February and April of 2025 with ~5600 respondents.[1] Results from our first wave of Pulse, fielded from July-September of 2024, can be found here, with the forum sequence version here. This part of the Wave 2 sequence focuses on attitudes towards AI. Findings at a glance Survey features: Wave 2 of Rethink Priorities’ Pulse project surveyed ~5,600 US adults between February and April 2025, following up on Wave 1 (July–September 2024). Results were poststratified to be representative of the US adult population with respect to Age, Sex, Income, Racial identification, Educational attainment, State and [...] ---Outline:(00:52) Findings at a glance(03:40) Worry about AI(07:50) How the US public views different stances on AI--- First published: September 12th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xAoAB2bopZP2FWomt/us-public-attitudes-towards-artificial-intelligence-wave-2 --- 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.

It's been several years since I was an EA student group organiser, so please forgive any part of this post which feels out of touch (& correct me in comments!) Wow, student group organising is hard. A few structural things that make it hard to be an organiser: You maybe haven’t had a job before, or have only had kind of informal jobs. So, you might not have learned a lot of stuff about how to accomplish things at work. You’re probably trying to do a degree at the same time, which is hard enough on its own! You don’t have the structure and benefits provided by a regular 9-5 job at an organisation, like: A manager An office Operational support People you can ask for help & advice A network You have, at most, a year or so to skill up before you might be responsible [...] --- First published: September 12th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/zMBFSesYeyfDp6Fj4/student-group-organising-is-hard-and-important --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Hi EAs! We posted earlier about Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC) proving in court that SPCAs can sue to stop agricultural cruelty. LIC had survived a demurrer in our lawsuit against well-known dairy Alexandre Family Farm. In a victory for farmed animals, the Humboldt County Superior Court had acknowledged LIC's power, as a California society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA), to prevent animal cruelty through civil litigation. Since then, Alexandre petitioned the California Court of Appeal for a writ of mandate against the Humboldt County Superior Court itself. Alexandre asked the appellate court to intervene in the LIC v. Alexandre lawsuit by ordering the Superior Court to change its mind and dismiss the case after all. This appeared to be an attempt to avoid litigation on the question of whether Alexandre is, in fact, committing illegal animal cruelty. So LIC retained a powerful team of [...] --- First published: September 12th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gvGnMQdJHoGdamsow/spca-cruelty-enforcement-case-clears-another-hurdle --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Early work on ”GiveWell for AI Safety” Intro EA was founded on the principle of cost-effectiveness. We should fund projects that do more with less, and more generally, spend resources as efficiently as possible. And yet, while much interest, funding, and resources in EA have shifted towards AI safety, it's rare to see any cost-effectiveness calculations. The focus on AI safety is based on vague philosophical arguments that the future could be very large and valuable, and thus whatever is done towards this end is worth orders of magnitude more than most short-term effects. Even if AI safety is the most important problem, you should still strive to optimize how resources are spent to achieve maximum impact, since there are limited resources. Global health organizations and animal welfare organizations work hard to measure cost-effectiveness, evaluate charities, make sure effects are counterfactual, run RCTs, estimate moral weights, scope out interventions [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Early work on GiveWell for AI Safety(00:16) Intro(02:43) Step 1: Gathering data(03:00) Viewer minutes(03:35) Costs and revenue(04:49) Results(05:08) Step 2: Quality-adjusting(05:40) Quality of Audience (Qa)(06:58) Fidelity of Message (Qf)(08:05) Alignment of Message (Qm)(08:53) Results(09:37) Observations(12:37) How to help(13:36) Appendix: Examples of Data Collection(13:42) Rob Miles(14:18) AI Species (Drew Spartz)(14:56) Rational Animations(15:32) AI in Context(15:52) Cognitive Revolution--- First published: September 12th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SBsGCwkoAemPawfJz/how-cost-effective-are-ai-safety-youtubers --- 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.

Lately I’ve been trying to raise awareness of AI risks among American conservatives. Stopping the reckless development of advanced AI agents (including Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI)) should be a human issue, not a partisan issue. Yet most people working in AI safety advocacy lean to the Left politically, and we seem to be ignoring many potential allies on the Right. This neglect of conservative allies seems suboptimal, given that the Republican Party currently controls all three branches of the U.S. government (including the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and majorities in the House and the Senate). Granted, the pro-AI lobbyists, Big Tech accelerationists, and tech VCs like Andreessen Horowitz have some influence with the current White House (e.g. on AI Czar David Sacks), but many conservative political leaders in the executive and legislative branches have expressed serious public concerns about AI risks. In the [...] --- First published: September 11th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/g44SMGzwKGTYhqSXM/my-talk-on-ai-risks-at-the-national-conservatism-conference --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

A special edition of our flagship CE program, focused on increasing effectiveness in the philanthropic sector. TL;DR: Each year, AIM incubates new nonprofits in global health and farmed animal welfare. In 2026, we’ll also run a special edition round dedicated to launching ~3–5 new philanthropic organizations. Applications for all three 2026 cohorts are open until October 5th.   What We’re thrilled to announce that in 2026, AIM's Charity Entrepreneurship Program will expand to three rounds per year. Two of these rounds will continue our proven focus on farmed animals and global health. The third will expand on opportunities we’ve identified to shape the philanthropic sector by launching a set of new, impactful organizations. The organizations may focus on activities such as: Providing specialist advisory services to large donors  Training grantmakers Running high-quality, outcome-focused events for philanthropists Launching targeted, theme-driven funds Producing edu-tainment around grantmaking  In the past [...] ---Outline:(00:42) What(01:59) Why(02:45) Who(03:15) Structure of the program(03:46) One application for three cohorts(04:52) Excited?(05:19) Questions?--- First published: September 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wRNtqKHbsEjZPXE5j/want-to-start-a-philanthropic-organization-announcing-aim-s --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

or Maximizing Good Within Your Personal Constraints Note: The specific numbers and examples below are approximations meant to illustrate the framework. Your actual calculations will vary based on your situation, values, and cause area. The goal isn't precision—it's to start thinking explicitly about impact per unit of sacrifice rather than assuming certain actions are inherently virtuous. You're at an EA meetup. Two people are discussing their impact: Alice: "I went vegan, buy only secondhand, bike everywhere, and donate 5% of my nonprofit salary to animal charities." Bob: "I work in finance, eat whatever, and donate 40% of my income to animal charities." Who gets more social approval? Alice. Who prevents more animal suffering? Bob—by orders of magnitude. Alice's choices improve welfare for hundreds of animal-years annually through diet change and her $2,500 donation. Bob's $80,000 donation improves tens of thousands of animal-years through corporate campaigns. Yet Alice is [...] ---Outline:(00:11) or Maximizing Good Within Your Personal Constraints(01:31) The Personal Constraint Framework(02:26) Return on Sacrifice (RoS): The Core Metric(03:05) Case Studies: Where Good Intentions Go Wrong(03:10) Career: The Counterfactual Question(04:32) Environmental Action: Personal vs. Systemic(05:13) Information and Influence(05:45) Truth vs. Reach(06:17) The Uncomfortable Truth About Offsets(07:43) When Personal Practice Actually Matters(08:22) Your Personal Impact Portfolio(09:38) The Reallocation Exercise(10:40) Addressing the Predictable Objections(11:41) The Call to Action(12:10) The Bottom Line--- First published: September 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/u9WzAcyZkBhgWAew5/your-sacrifice-portfolio-is-probably-terrible --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Introduction Giving What We Can (GWWC) has partnered with a variety of organisations, both within and outside of the EA ecosystem, to promote the 🔸10% Pledge and 🔹Trial Pledge in ways tailored to their audiences. These partnerships provide new avenues for people to learn about and take giving pledges, helping to direct more funds toward highly impactful opportunities. If you’re interested in exploring a partnership with GWWC, reach out to lucas.moore@givingwhatwecan.org (GWWC's Partnerships Manager). Coming out of the Effective Giving Summit in June (where Nina Friedrich from HIP led a session on promoting giving pledges) we wanted to share some of our key takeaways, as well as learnings from partners that have successfully driven a high volume of pledges. Our hope is that others can adapt and build on these strategies in their own work. 1. Meeting 1-1 with your community (example: Mieux Donner) Mieux Donner is a fundraising [...] ---Outline:(00:12) Introduction(01:05) 1. Meeting 1-1 with your community (example: Mieux Donner)(02:02) When cold reaching out, personalise your ask(03:17) Leverage in-person events(03:40) Prepare for the conversation (optional)(03:49) 2. Cohort-based programs (example: High Impact Professionals)(03:57) Overview of our pledge drive(05:09) Strategies we use to inspire pledges(06:27) How we build trust and motivation to pledge among our participants(07:29) You can apply these learnings in different organisations/settings(08:38) Key lessons(09:54) 3. Digital ad campaigns (example: Animal Advocacy Careers)(10:56) Meta ads(12:20) 4. Passive pledge generation (example: Effektiv Spenden)(14:07) Interested in a Pledge Partnership?(15:33) What our partners say--- First published: September 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/39nagbirZPkiWivvn/strategies-for-promoting-giving-pledges --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Note: This post was crossposted from the Lauren Policy blog by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post. Most of this blog is about international migration, and particularly, the economics of international migration. I write about income gains, but more in the sense of “here is the headline result of a working paper” rather than personal stories. This post is an exception to that. I joined Malengo for their annual retreat[1] this year, and had a chance to speak to a number of young international migrants about their experience. Malengo is an NGO facilitating international migration. It supports Ugandan and refugee students[2] in obtaining a German university degree and then working in Germany. When a student moves to Germany, their life prospects improve markedly. A Ugandan university graduate will be lucky to earn $5,000 a year; a [...] ---Outline:(04:09) How It's Going(05:36) Malengo Student Interviews--- First published: September 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/zFbDpTb5xjTnntCpf/what-happens-when-you-send-ugandan --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

In the town hall in Siena, there is a set of frescos by Lorenzetti called the Allegory of Good and Bad Government. It was painted between 1338 and 1339 on the walls of the Sala dei Nove, where Siena's magistrates held council. One of the long walls shows the Effects of good government. The harvest is ready in the fields and vineyards beyond the city walls, a farmer drives his pig to town, the city is clean and elegant, and citizens are dancing in the streets to celebrate a wedding. One of the dancers is wearing a dress embroidered with dragonflies. When the councilman sat to make their decisions, that was what they were looking at and hoping for. On the opposite wall is a fresco showing the Effects of bad government, but I think they get enough airtime as is, so I’m not going to go [...] ---Outline:(04:30) A post-AGI allegory(10:46) Postscript: what we stand to lose--- First published: September 10th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/JjicJYdxsJsyqMyYk/good-government --- 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.

Executive Summary I think EA community building is too focused on frameworks and optimising for impact when what actually works is much more basic: genuine relationships and starting where people already are, not just treating the community as instrumental for impact, but something valuable in and of itself. Learn from groups that actually work. Every other society at freshers' fair is trying to build student communities too, and many of them do it better than us. We're not special just because we care about impact, and our focus on this probably makes us worse than the groups that solely focus on community. Start with altruism, not EA concepts. Instead of "EA is a way of thinking about how to do the most good," try "Want to figure out how you can do more good for the world? Let's explore that together." People who genuinely care about helping others are [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Executive Summary(02:13) Introduction(03:02) On Learning from Others(04:39) On Starting with Altruism, Not Frameworks(06:15) On Building Genuine Community(07:57) On Facilitation and Relationships(08:28) On Strategy and Learning(12:37) On Power Dynamics and Hierarchy(14:01) On Programming Alternatives(15:31) Key Takeaways for Community Builders--- First published: September 9th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/agFxcinYtBqjDgCNk/sam-s-hot-takes-on-ea-community-building --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This post summarizes a new preprint from the Humane and Sustainable Food Lab at Stanford titled “Taking a bite out of meat, or just giving fresh veggies the boot? Plant-based meats did not reduce meat purchasing in a randomized controlled menu intervention.” The paper reports on an online RCT where participants were asked to select taco fillings from one of three menus designed to mimic the options at Chipotle. They could choose from both meat- and plant-based options. The randomized treatment was whether participants saw one plant-based option (veggie & guacamole) two (veggie + ‘Sofritas,’ an existing plant-based meat analogue (PMA) that you can get at Chipotle)  or three (veggie + Sofritas + ‘Chick’nitas,’ a hypothetical chicken-analogue PMA).  The treatment was embedded in a series of decoy questions about choosing pens and t-shirts to obscure the purpose of the study. The main outcome was whether people chose [...] --- First published: September 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sXQrBxHuBxyxdkMp3/research-report-adding-a-plant-based-option-or-two-does-not --- 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.

There's a huge amount of energy spent on how to get the most QALYs/$. And a good amount of energy spent on how to increase total $. And you might think that across those efforts, we are succeeding in maximizing total QALYs. I think a third avenue is under investigated: marginally improving the effectiveness of ineffective capital. That's to say, improving outcomes, only somewhat, for the pool of money that is not at all EA-aligned. This cash is not being spent optimally, and likely never will be. But the sheer volume could make up for the lack of efficacy. Say you have the option to work for the foundation of one of two donors: Donor A only has an annual giving budget of $100,000, but will do with that money whatever you suggest. If you say “bed nets” he says “how many”. Donor B has a much larger [...] ---Outline:(01:34) Most money is not EA money(04:32) How much money is there?(05:49) Effective Everything?--- First published: September 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/o5LBbv9bfNjKxFeHm/marginally-more-effective-altruism --- 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.

I drafted this in May. I’m just getting this post out the door now, but the atmosphere feels similar. I’m feeling unusually worried right now about problems in the world. I'm typically skeptical when people claim things are uniquely bad—and I counter their claim with some uplifting graph from Our World in Data. But recent developments around AI timelines, global political changes, and cuts to important global health programs, have left me more pessimistic than usual. I'm reminded of physicist Richard Feynman writing about his time shortly after working on the Manhattan Project: I would go along and I would see people building a bridge, or they'd be making a new road, and I thought, they're crazy, they just don't understand, they don't understand. Why are they making new things? It's so useless. This captures how I've been feeling lately—watching normal life continue while carrying this sense [...] ---Outline:(01:19) If youre feeling stressed or overwhelmed(03:25) If youre with others who are stressed(04:54) Review your career path, but dont constantly second-guess(05:21) Choose your part of the probability distribution(06:43) Getting support--- First published: September 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ezyh7LqNaigBvjhXw/when-the-world-feels-unstable-don-t-let-that-drive-worse --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Reflections from an Incubation Program in Latin America This is the second in a series of posts about a nonprofit incubation program we’re running in Spanish-speaking Latin America, funded by Open Philanthropy. The goal is to support the creation of new, evidence-based organizations that implement cost-effective interventions adapted to local contexts. You can find the first post here. We have finished selecting the first cohort of founders. In this post we will introduce the framework used to select them, along with some learnings that can be useful for other people founding or considering founding an effective nonprofit or joining an incubation program. But first, a quick update: we have decided to rebrand our program name, as the previous one had an important similarity to another impact-focused incubator, Catalyze Impact. Our new program name is: Theory of Change Makers. TL;DR We launched the Theory of Change Makers program [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Reflections from an Incubation Program in Latin America(01:15) TL;DR(04:27) Complete post:(04:31) Summary data(06:18) Logistics of the selection process(08:46) Main learnings in the selection process(10:14) Things we saw a lot in the application process and why an EA lens is highly beneficial from an incubation perspective(13:54) What was non-negotiable?(15:27) Some things that aren't as obvious as they might seem(16:51) The hardest part of the selection process(19:34) ✨ Personal Commitment Letter ✨--- First published: September 2nd, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/9nzhoRCDvgatg4EED/who-should-found-high-impact-ngos-in-the-global-south --- 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.

This is a link post. ACX/Scott Alexander's summary: But now a new report comes out arguing that the previous reports were wrong, that lab-grown meat production is going much better than the earlier reports thought possible, and it's more or less cost-effective already for the simplest products! Again, mixed reactions, and although some of the numbers are indisputable the analysis itself this is by a VC firm with lab-based meat investments. From the report: Not long after Humbird's analysis was published, independent news outlet The Counter (now part of Grist) ran a long-form feature that echoed many of the report's key assumptions and conclusions. Together, the two pieces helped catalyze a wave of heightened skepticism, with their central arguments reiterated and amplified in mainstream outlets including Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. ... While it may take years—or even decades—to fully understand how the cultured meat industry will [...] --- First published: September 4th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/88KaKw5QejmwrqqvP/room-for-optimism-on-cultured-meat Linkpost URL:https://www.proteinreport.org/articles/the-case-for-cultured-meat-has-changed/ --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

‘Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future’ was recently published by Oxford University Press. It's open access — you can read it for free here[1]. The book covers the case for longtermism, ways to forecast and evaluate the future, discussions of our priorities in light of longtermism, and the prospects for longtermism in institutions. David Thorstad goes into more detail on the book's contents here. An academic book like this is published in the hope that it will generate more serious discussion of the ideas it contains and the questions it raises. To contribute to that goal, we’re working with the book's editors to host an essay competition here on the Forum. To enter: write an essay (of whatever length it needs to be[2]) in response to an essay (or a theme from across the essays) in this collection. Then, post it on the [...] ---Outline:(01:09) Prizes:(01:21) The Judges(03:09) How we will select the winners(04:20) The prize is money, so... legal stuff(04:57) FAQs(05:00) Am I eligible?(05:21) Can I co-author a piece?(05:31) Can I treat entries to the competition like regular forum posts?(05:49) Can I submit a piece I've already published elsewhere?(06:19) Are there prizes for referring pieces?(06:26) Will I get feedback on my entry?(06:44) What criteria will submissions be judged on?(07:27) Does style matter?(07:46) (How) Can I use AI?(08:15) Can I enter more than once?--- First published: September 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pFd3F84iMauLjsN4A/announcing-the-essays-on-longtermism-competition --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Introduction We are pleased to announce the publication of Essays on Longtermism, now available from Oxford University Press. This is the first peer-reviewed edited volume on longtermism, containing an introduction and 30 substantive chapters, which are all available open access here. (Please bear with us as we work through a few issues with the ebook). The book is edited by Hilary Greaves (University of Oxford), Jacob Barrett (Vanderbilt University), and David Thorstad (Vanderbilt University). Here is the blurb for the volume: Longtermism, broadly speaking, is the view that positively influencing the long-term future is one of the key moral priorities of our time. Calls for taking a long-term view towards global problems such as climate change and poverty are familiar, typically urging us to plan on a scale of decades or perhaps a century. By contrast, longtermism asks us to take seriously the idea that what we should do [...] ---Outline:(00:09) Introduction(02:18) Part 1: Evaluating the case for longtermism(04:00) Part 2: Predicting and evaluating the future(05:03) Part 3: Ethical priorities(07:32) Part 4: Institutions and society--- First published: September 8th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GYYWJr9vMetar2D64/essays-on-longtermism --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Why 10%? Because that's the number of the 10% Pledge. No other reason. How big a deal is donating 10% of your pre-tax income really? On the one hand, 10% of one's income feels like a lot of money no matter how much you make. But on the other hand, incomes vary tremendously such that no matter how much you make, giving away 10% of your income won't change your relative income rank by much. If you're an American who income is higher than 20% / X% / 80% of Americans, then your effective income leftover after donating 10% of your pre-tax income will still be higher than 18% / X-7% / 76% of Americans. In the US, donating 10% at most lowers your income percentile by 6.3 percentile from 54th percentile to 47.7th percentile, requiring you to live on $49,500 instead of $55,000. So from this perspective at [...] ---Outline:(00:23) Why 10%?(00:32) How big a deal is donating 10% of your pre-tax income really?(01:36) An old related memory(04:00) Better versions of this chart--- First published: September 7th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vRqWoxfBHjuxJEkoi/how-big-a-deal-is-donating-10-of-your-income-really-a --- 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.