EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

Introduction

Misaligned AI systems, which have a tendency to use their capabilities in ways that conflict with the intentions of both developers and users, could cause significant societal harm. Identifying them is seen as increasingly important to inform development and deployment decisions and design mitigation measures. There are concerns, however, that this will prove challenging. For example, misaligned AIs may only reveal harmful behaviors in rare circumstances, or perceive detection attempts as threatening and deploy countermeasures – including deception and sandbagging – to evade them.

For these reasons, developing a range of efforts to detect misaligned behavior, including power-seeking, deception, and sandbagging, among other capabilities, have been proposed. One important indicator, though, has been hiding in plain sight for years. In this post, we identify an underappreciated method that may be both necessary and sufficient to identify misaligned AIs: whether or not they've turned red, i.e. gone rouge.

In [...]

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Outline:

(01:43) Historical Evidence for Rouge AI

(02:59) Recent Empirical Work

(05:18) Potential Countermeasure

(05:22) The EYES Eval

(06:27) EYES Eval Demonstration

(07:40) Future Research Directions

(08:42) Conclusion

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uKKoj9iqj2cWKsjrt/mitigating-risks-from-rouge-ai

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Epistemic status - statistically verified.

I'm writing this post to draw peoples' attention to a new cause area proposal - haircuts for alignment researchers.

Aside from the obvious benefits implied by the graph (i.e. haircuts having the potential to directly improve organizational stability), this would represent possibly the only pre-singularity opportunity we'll have to found an org named "Clippy".

I await further investment.

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ApHoGrBvQPXFJ5oqG/new-cause-area-proposal

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We at Pivotal™ are thrilled to announce that we have successfully trademarked the terms "pivotal," "to pivot," and "a pivot" (see our official trademark certificate). We've long tolerated the unauthorised and, frankly, inflationary use of these terms, but the situation has reached a tipping point. So we're forced to take this pivotal™ action.

What does this mean for you?

• Moving forward, any post on the EA Forum containing the aforementioned trademarked terms will be automatically tagged with our EA forum tag by our proprietary AI system.[1]

• Furthermore, our system will automatically detect and gently correct unauthorized synonyms such as 'crucial', 'important', or 'critical', replacing them with the legally compliant term 'pivotal™'.
• At this stage, we have decided not to pursue legal actions against community members inadvertently infringing our trademark. Instead, they will simply be considered an automatic applicant to our upcoming research fellowships.

We appreciate your understanding [...]

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4pLZyfchoNxejHzxh/important-update-pivotal-tm-trademark-announcement

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Hi group organisers,

The current intro fellowship syllabus is getting on to be ~3 years old now, and many of you have remarked that it needs an update. As good stewards of EA, we have listened to your feedback and are pleased this April 1st to announce our proposed revamp!

Problems with the current Intro Fellowship

• Confusion over name variations
• People don’t do the readings
• No immediate impact
• Weak bonds between participants
• Too cause-neutral

Our proposed solutions

Confusion over name variations

The Introductory Fellowship is also known as Intro Fellowship, Arete Fellowship, EA Fellowship, EA Seminar Program, EA Seminar Programme, Intro to EA Program, Introductory Seminar Program. Way too many names, way too confusing! We will be shortening the new program simply to ‘the Fellowship’.

People don’t do the readings

We understand that it is common for some fellows to skip some readings. This creates a [...]

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Outline:

(00:27) Problems with the current Intro Fellowship

(00:42) Our proposed solutions

(00:46) Confusion over name variations

(01:11) People don't do the readings

(01:32) No immediate impact

(02:07) Weak bonds between participants

(02:45) Too cause-neutral

(03:19) View our draft fellowship revamp here

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/5rpNo2mFTq7EpFzmu/we-re-revamping-the-intro-fellowship

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Happy April Fools’ Day! It's time to put your strategic thinking to the test in The EA University Groups Prisoner's Dilemma!

How It Works

If you’re a member or organiser of an EA university group (or the CEA University Groups Team), then you’re eligible to play. Your group faces one big decision: Cooperate or Defect?

• Every player will use this form to vote on whether their group should cooperate or defect.
• Your group's position will be decided by majority vote.
• Voting closes at midnight tonight.
• Results will be announced tomorrow.

The Prizes

The Grand Prize

• The coveted Golden Spoon Trophy, engraved with the words "HUNGRY FOR IMPACT"

Bonus Prizes

• A T-shirt that reads "i cooperated/ defected in the prisoner's dilemma and all i got was this lousy t-shirt"
• Socks embroidered with the EA logo
• An impact calculator (calculates your real life-time impact[1])
• Sheldon the [...]

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Outline:

(00:19) How It Works

(00:53) The Prizes

(01:37) The Rules and Prize Conditions

(02:13) Will You Cooperate or Defect?

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

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/JGEZnHtHgNEypTZeb/the-ea-university-groups-prisoner-s-dilemma-1

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Epistemic status: highly certain, or something

The Spending What We Must 💸11% pledge 

In short: Members pledge to spend at least 11% of their income on effectively increasing their own productivity.

This pledge is likely higher-impact for most people than the Giving What We Can 🔸10% Pledge, and we also think the name accurately reflects the non-supererogatory moral beliefs of many in the EA community.

Example

Charlie is a software engineer for the Centre for Effective Future Research. Since Charlie has taken the SWWM 💸11% pledge, rather than splurge on a vacation, they decide to buy an expensive noise-canceling headset before their next EAG, allowing them to get slightly more sleep and have 104 one-on-one meetings instead of just 101. In one of the extra three meetings, they chat with Diana, who is starting an AI-for-worrying-about-AI company and decides to become a cofounder. The company becomes wildly successful, and [...]

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Outline:

(00:14) The Spending What We Must 💸11% pledge

(00:39) Example

(01:25) The 💸💸💸 Badge

(01:54) FAQ

(01:57) Is the pledge legally binding?

(02:08) What do you mean by effectively increasing productivity?

(02:38) Im an AI system. Can I take the 💸11% pledge?

(03:29) Why is the 💸11% pledge 3x more effective than the 🔸10% pledge?

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qCDad9dWE5hDkYevK/introducing-the-spending-what-we-must-pledge

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Epistemic status: highly certain, or something

The Spending What We Must 💸11% pledge 

In short: Members pledge to spend at least 11% of their income on effectively increasing their own productivity.

This pledge is likely higher-impact for most people than the Giving What We Can 🔸10% Pledge, and we also think the name accurately reflects the non-supererogatory moral beliefs of many in the EA community.

Example

Charlie is a software engineer for the Centre for Effective Future Research. Since Charlie has taken the SWWM 💸11% pledge, rather than splurge on a vacation, they decide to buy an expensive noise-canceling headset before their next EAG, allowing them to get slightly more sleep and have 104 one-on-one meetings instead of just 101. In one of the extra three meetings, they chat with Diana, who is starting an AI-for-worrying-about-AI company, and decide to become a cofounder. The company becomes wildly successful, and [...]

---

Outline:

(00:15) The Spending What We Must 💸11% pledge

(00:39) Example

(01:26) The 💸💸💸 Badge

(01:55) FAQ

(01:58) Is the pledge legally binding?

(02:08) What do you mean by effectively increasing productivity?

(02:33) Im an AI system. Can I take the 💸11% pledge?

(03:23) Why is the 💸11% pledge 3x more effective than the 🔸10% pledge?

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qCDad9dWE5hDkYevK/introducing-the-spending-what-we-must-pledge

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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TL;DR: This is a reply to Launching Screwworm-Free Future – Funding and Support Request — EA Forum, Screwworm Free Future is hiring for a Director, and Animal ASK's report on Brazil - with a summary of challenges for NWS eradication in South America, such as the existence of large populations of flies (well-adapted to the environment) and relevant information gaps.

Many drafts of this doc were shared and discussed with SFF project team members (as I was myself part of it until recently). Their feedback was remarkably helpful; this text would be way worse without them, and I am grateful for this – especially to Diego, Carol, and Richard Parr. We even considered posting as a report authored by the team, but our schedules conflicted a lot, and we couldn’t agree on a final version and deadline. Thus, except for my co-author Fernando Moreno (who attended 5 meetings [...]

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Outline:

(01:35) Introduction

(03:50) Straight to the point:

(07:20) Possible institutional challenges

(10:00) Natural and geographical challenges

(12:12) In summary

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First published:

March 31st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yk4czusEbwtHnBbzt/red-teaming-and-cause-area-investigation-challenges-for-1

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Hi everybody!

I'm Conor. I run the 80,000 Hours Job Board. Or I used to. As of today — April 1 — we are becoming Job Birds!

We've been talking to users for the last few years about making this change, and people have overwhelmingly been in favour (remember, there are six or more birds for every human on Earth). Whether it's the daily emails asking me to finally switch, or the flocks of people accosting me at conferences to urge a migration to Job Birds, the demand is overwhelming! Luckily, the wait is over!

I've included an FAQ below of the most common questions we receive.

FAQ

• Do these birds have jobs?
  • In a sense, no. In another, preferred sense, definitely! They have roles in ecological niches.
• What's a good bird to get started with?
  • The peregrine falcon.
• What's the theory of change?
  • Birds are [...]

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First published:

April 1st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Lee6hyYo7F5BNQJEj/80-000-hours-job-birds

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post.

Hey! Austin here. At Manifund, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to help AI go well. One question that bothered me: so much of the important work on AI is done in SF, so why are all the AI safety hubs in Berkeley? (I’d often consider this specifically while stuck in traffic over the Bay Bridge.)

I spoke with leaders at Constellation, Lighthaven, FAR Labs, OpenPhil; nobody had a good answer. Everyone said “yeah, an SF hub makes sense, I really hope somebody else does it”. Eventually, I decided to be that somebody else.

Now we’re raising money for our new coworking & events space: Mox. We launched our beta in Feb, onboarding 40+ members, and are excited to grow from here. If Mox excites you too, we’d love your support; donate at https://manifund.org/projects/mox-a-coworking--events-space-in-sf

Project summary

Mox is a 2-floor, 20k sq [...]

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Outline:

(01:09) Project summary

(02:27) What are this projects goals? How will you achieve them?

(04:21) How will this funding be used?

(05:54) Who is on your team?

(06:23) Whats your track record on similar projects?

(09:28) What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

(11:15) How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

(12:10) Impact certificates in Mox

(14:22) PS: apply for Mox!

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

March 31st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Hx2HFo3hB3T54nZfb/fundraising-for-mox-coworking-and-events-in-sf

Linkpost URL:
https://manifund.org/projects/mox-a-coworking--events-space-in-sf

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