EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

This is a link post.

About two months ago, @finm and I recorded a discussion about my now-published piece on “AI tools for Existential Security”[1] (for the podcast Fin has been running at Forethought). I’d never done something like this before, and liked the result a lot more than I thought I would![2]

I'm sharing a quick transcript here in case anyone appreciates section headers, hyperlinks, etc.. Please note that this is very rough; it's an unpolished, not-double-checked “MVP” edit of an AI-generated transcript, and will definitely have mistakes.[3]

Here's the episode itself. You should also be able to find it on most podcast apps. The discussion loosely follows the structure of the piece it focuses on.

My thinking on some of what we discuss here has changed a bit, but I'd still say most of this (sometimes with somewhat different emphasis, framings, etc.) and I wanted to quickly get [...]

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Outline:

(01:41) Transcript

(01:44) Elevator pitch & how this relates to d/acc and def/acc

(05:24) Which kinds of AI applications seem most exciting?

(08:08) Getting more specific on applications & discussing adoption

(10:49) AI negotiation tools, privacy-preserving information-sharing

(19:10) Cybersecurity

(22:17) Things that might be possible as AI capabilities ramp up

(24:25) Win-win policy advice

(28:26) Why these clusters of applications?

(31:17) What about market effects (and other dynamics that might make it hard to make a counterfactual difference)?

(40:57) Methods: how can we accelerate beneficial AI tools?

(51:01) Applications that could be doable with today's models (or generally very soon)

(54:52) Why not focus on slowing risk-increasing things down?

(57:55) A pre-mortem

(59:56) (How) many more people should be working on this?

(01:04:04) Other upshots

(01:04:27) Speeding up automation of your area, using AI tools more

(01:06:48) Preparing for a world with much more abundant cognition

(01:11:27) Getting ready to help with automation

(01:13:04) Applications we're personally excited for

(01:15:19) Key open questions?

The original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

April 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Bj5naijMQFqoHFMRA/podcast-on-ai-tools-for-existential-security-transcript

Linkpost URL:
https://pnc.st/s/forecast/30c70e39/ai-tools-for-existential-security-with-lizka-vaintrob-

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

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This is a link post.

Converting to a for-profit model would undermine the company's founding mission to ensure AGI "benefits all of humanity," argues new letter

This is the full text of a post from Obsolete, a Substack that I write about the intersection of capitalism, geopolitics, and artificial intelligence. I’m a freelance journalist and the author of a forthcoming book called Obsolete: Power, Profit, and the Race to Build Machine Superintelligence. Consider subscribing to stay up to date with my work.

Don’t become a for-profit.

That's the blunt message of a recent letter signed by more than 30 people, including former OpenAI employees, prominent civil-society leaders, legal scholars, and Nobel laureates, including AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton and former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Obsolete obtained the 25-page letter, which was sent last Thursday to the attorneys general (AGs) of California and Delaware, two officials with the power to [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) Converting to a for-profit model would undermine the companys founding mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, argues new letter

(02:12) Nonprofit origins

(05:18) Nobel opposition

(06:34) Contradictions

(09:20) Justifications

(12:24) No sale price can compensate

(13:58) An institutional test

(15:44) Appendix: Quotes from OpenAI's leaders over the years

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First published:

April 23rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qHhkSR2EGcQBqgpS2/openai-alums-nobel-laureates-urge-regulators-to-save-company

Linkpost URL:
https://garrisonlovely.substack.com/p/breaking-openai-alums-nobel-laureates

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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I'm in the process of setting up The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at the LSE, and I have two new job ads out:

Research Officer in Animal Sentience (Animals and AI) - this is an open-ended, research-focused postdoctoral role looking at the impacts AI is having on non-human animals, ways of promoting beneficial uses, and ways of ameliorating harmful uses.

Centre Manager (Impact and Administration) - this person will work with me to run the Centre on a day-to-day basis and work towards its impact goals.

Both jobs are £42,679-£51,000pa, and based at the LSE in London, with the possibility of hybrid working. Anyone can apply from anywhere in the world. We can usually sponsor visas for successful candidates.

I'm looking for people with a sincere commitment to the Centre's mission! You can read about that mission over here. Please get in touch if this might [...]

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First published:

April 23rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/MJRZaWvgfWbNw6JTn/two-jobs-at-the-jeremy-coller-centre-for-animal-sentience

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Crosspost from my blog that you should totally check out!

If I were an animal, I would be a bug. Statistically.

—David Sposito.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” In other words, the thing one cannot think is that Christianity is only a bit important—that following the way of Christ should be part of one's life, but not a big part. You should not be the sort of person who goes to church once a month, occasionally feels contrite about their sins, but basically ignores Christianity most of the time.

This is how I feel about insect suffering.

I wrote an article recently about insects. In short, I argued that there are so many insects that their suffering is the biggest deal in the world. Most insects live [...]

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First published:

April 23rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/RhcP8TkCMbeRHH8ay/untitled-draft-hrbq

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Open Philanthropy's Farm Animal Welfare team is hiring!

We’re looking for a Program Assistant to support the team's work to reduce the suffering of farmed animals by managing processes, coordinating logistics, and keeping complex administrative projects on track.

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Organized and efficient: able to juggle time-sensitive tasks while keeping longer-term projects on track. We have a high bar for team members’ output, and being efficient will make it much easier to meet those expectations.
• Detail-oriented: careful with data and processes, with a strong instinct for getting things right and catching mistakes.
• Service-minded: happy to take on behind-the-scenes operations work that helps the team succeed, even when it's repetitive or unglamorous. You’d be happy to remain in an operations role for at least a couple of years.
• Motivated by the mission: invested in helping farmed animals. (Formal experience in the field is not needed!)
• [...]

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Outline:

(01:38) Details

(02:39) A few final notes

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First published:

April 22nd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rCczoPiJ4uGr22vYz/open-phil-s-farm-animal-welfare-team-is-hiring-a-program

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

We're thrilled to share the results of our V-March (vegan in March) 2025 campaign!

The numbers speak for themselves:

- Reached over 7 million people across China

- More than 70,000 active engagements through comments and shares

- 600+ daily check-ins via our WeChat Mini Program

- 341 Sogdian Trees planted (reclaiming approximately 3410㎡ of desert)

- 3410.12 RMB donated to the Alashan SEE Ecology Association

By Arkadiusz Nowak, Marcin Nobis, Sylwia Nowak, Agnieszka Nobis,Anna Wróbel, Sebastian Świerszcz, Ewelina Klichowska,Iwona Dembicz & Grzegorz Kusza - Arkadiusz Nowak and Marcin Nobs (Eds): Illustrated Flora of Tajikistan and adjacent areas, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 2020., CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128815843

Our survey reveals a powerful impact:

- Over 80% of participants plan to continue following a plant-based diet!

- Over 70% reported noticeable health improvements

- 67% plan to reduce meat intake by 40-80%

- 58% stayed fully plant-based throughout the [...]

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First published:

April 20th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/hhMudEzbT9Emx3LzX/china-vegan-society-s-v-march-results

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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One year as a Charity Entrepreneur

When we founded NOVAH (No Violence At Home) in April 2024 through the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation program, we had a research-backed hypothesis that edutainment (mixing social messages in entertaining content) could effectively reduce domestic violence (technical term: intimate partner violence, IPV). Now, twelve months later, our first radio drama, Twubakane (meaning "Let's build together"), has reached ~30,000 listeners in Rwanda, where 24% of married women experience partner abuse annually.

This post reflects on our first year building an intervention from scratch, sharing lessons and surprises along the way that might be valuable for others considering similar paths.

In previous posts, we discussed more about the background of NOVAH and its evidence base, and we presented why gender-based violence is becoming a more established and recognized cause area among the EA community

The right partners accelerate progress 

As a young organization with limited [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) One year as a Charity Entrepreneur

(01:14) The right partners accelerate progress

(02:13) Iterative research to solve unexplored problems

(03:51) AI accelerates content production and improves monitoring

(05:35) Small-scale M&E is very valuable to steer your program

(07:52) A lean model at scale thanks to cyclical work and cheap media

(09:08) What keeps us up at night

(09:57) What we would have done differently

(10:39) How you can support us to reach more people and generate evidence

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First published:

April 22nd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/y92KitaA99AdQm2A7/novah-s-first-year-from-aim-s-research-report-to-airing-our

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I speak to many entrepreneurial people trying to do a large amount of good through nonprofit organisations. I think this is often an error for four main reasons.

1. Scalability
2. Capital counterfactuals
3. Standards
4. Learning potential
5. Earning to give potential

These arguments are most applicable to starting high-growth organisations, such as startups.[1]

Scalability

There is a lot of capital available for startups, and established mechanisms exist to continue raising funds if the ROI appears high. It seems extremely difficult to operate a nonprofit with a budget of more than $30M per year (e.g., with approximately 150 people), but this is not particularly unusual for for-profit organisations.

Capital Counterfactuals

I generally believe that value-aligned funders are spending their money reasonably well, while for-profit investors are spending theirs extremely poorly (on altruistic grounds). If you can redirect that funding towards high-altruism value work, you could potentially create a much larger delta [...]

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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First published:

April 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wKHzfWoNMSQHxosgz/consider-starting-a-for-profit-company-instead

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Article in Financial Times -

Excerpts “Multiple staff from US-based foundations and non-profits told the FT that they expected the Trump administration to end their tax exemptions for projects that involved spending overseas or were focused on climate or racial justice.

The likelihood has risen since President Trump threatened this week to remove Harvard's tax exempt status.”

It may also affect overseas aids apart from climate. I heard from a well connected friend this may be done via executive orders soon. Not sure how likely it is but seems plausible.

US philanthropies and non-profits groups focused on climate change fear that a potential loss of their tax-free status under the Trump administration could imperil their programmes.

Concerns have grown that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order on the eve of so-called Earth day next week that would have the effect of ending their tax-exempt [...]

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First published:

April 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pr85LGDeLbGD6YwPz/ft-article-on-potential-charity-regulation-change-in-the-us

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

The Effective Altruism community has encouraged a range of different

approaches to doing good over time. Initially there was more focus on

frugality

as a way to increase how much you could donate, which was mostly

supplanted by emphasis on earning more. In late 2015 this started to

shift towards

doing

things that are directly useful, which accelerated

in

2021. Then the market

fell in

2022, FTX

turned out to

be a fraud, and there haven't been new donors near the scale of

Open Phil /

Good Ventures. Among many

changes, people are thinking more about frugality again: the

less

you can live on, the more you can stretch a given amount of

funding. [1]

To encourage myself to live more frugally and to give an example of

what I thought was a pretty fulfilling life at relatively low cost for

the US, I used to calculate numbers [...]

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First published:

April 20th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/hYzpFJEwttBjtCjEW/spending-on-ourselves

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.