EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

We intend to mobilise 100 million dollars of philanthropic capital towards export manufacturing and international labour mobility to double the lifetime incomes of 250,000 low-income people in Africa (creating 10m DCYs).

(This launch article is cross-posted, with some edits, from our Substack.)

We are launching the Africa Jobs Fund to dramatically boost incomes for low-income Africans through access to high-productivity jobs. We will catalyse world-class entrepreneurs to build high-impact, scalable companies in two sectors: export manufacturing and international labour mobility.

We intend to mobilise $100 million towards international labour mobility and export manufacturing. Based on our cost-effectiveness analysis, this funding should enable us to double the lifetime incomes of at least 250,000 low-income people in Africa. To start, we are raising 15 million dollars of philanthropic funding to build at least 20 high-impact companies. We also hope to shift global development work towards focusing on what really matters in the long run: increasing incomes through high-productivity jobs.

The fund is housed within Renaissance Philanthropy; a nonprofit organization building a brighter future for all through the time-bound, thesis-driven philanthropic funds. We are already working on venture-building our first set of companies.

In some respects, the model is quite similar to [...]

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Outline:

(02:17) Why?

(02:20) Poverty in Africa is a huge challenge

(03:02) Higher incomes solve (almost) everything

(04:03) The two pillars

(04:27) International labour mobility

(07:50) Export manufacturing

(11:05) Our model

(12:56) Why not the existing models?

(13:00) Why not build VC startups?

(14:47) Why not build 'highly-effective' non-profit programmes?

(17:45) Who we are

(19:14) What happens next

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First published:

May 27th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ubeWJC8rMGGMtYdWF/announcing-the-africa-jobs-fund

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This is a link post.

Disclaimer: This is a huge topic, and I’m barely scratching the surface here. I’m not an expert on these subjects, and am mostly trying to summarise the work of experts in an accessible way. All writing is my own.

Introduction:

One of my chief complaints about the field of existential risk prevention is that it often relies on estimates that are not well-grounded in empirical evidence. But I want to be clear that some empirical data on threats to humanity does exist and can be analysed in statistically meaningful ways. Obviously we don’t have any data on the incidence of global human extinction, but we do have data for other measures of danger, like earthquake magnitude, tornado speed, deaths from terrorism, and many others.

Furthermore, in many cases these threats appear to closely follow statistical patterns. The most commonly attributed statistical pattern is something called a power law distribution. If you’ve heard of the “80-20” rule, or the Pareto distribution, these are referring to power laws. The list of phenomenon which have been attributed to power law behaviour is frankly ridiculous. Here is a non-exhaustive list of topics we will mention in this post:

[...]

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First published:

May 26th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ovkHXerR8z2Qjyf9o/does-disaster-frequency-follow-power-laws-it-s-complicated

Linkpost URL:
https://titotal.substack.com/p/does-disaster-frequency-follow-power

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Julia and I had been giving half since 2014, but in 2025 we drew on our savings to donate 81%. It looks to us like we're in a critical window for keeping the introduction of very powerful AI systems from being disastrous, and we want to do what we can while we still can.

Here's what that looks like in the context of our overall spending:

We've been prioritizing donations for a long time, but it feels very different now because of the AI boom. Some of this is that people who've made money in the boom will likely be giving more soon, and so money spent now can help set up organizations to spend future money more effectively. But more importantly, this is a key window of opportunity: transformative AI is coming very quickly, for better or worse. We want to push hard for "better".

If you compare to previous years (2024, 2022, 2020, 2018, 2016, 2014), we're donating a lot less than we used to in absolute terms:

Until mid-2022 I was working at a big tech company, optimizing to maximize donations, and now I'm at a non-profit. This means we're giving a larger fraction, but of [...]

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Outline:

(04:07) Evaluating Predictions

(06:14) Making New Predictions

(08:11) Details

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First published:

May 26th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/CmpfM8dubqsqEQic7/donating-80-while-it-still-counts

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TL;DR

• GiveWell has published a podcast, looking back on their investments in iron fortification and their 8.2 million dollars grant to Fortify Health in 2021. When the grant was made, the projected cost-effectiveness was 5x cash transfers we delivered and estimated 12x. We want to share what this looked like from the inside.
• Over three years, our team scaled from reaching fewer than half a million people to more than 20 million, while roadblocks in our government engagement strategy forced a pivot.
• This post is about what we learned over the last 3+ years of scaling a public health intervention, the mistakes we made and the learnings we hope will be useful for funders, implementers and supporters.
• We are seeking approximately $1 million over the next two years to unlock the government channel, where we believe the next order of magnitude of impact lies. We would welcome your support.

1.    Background

GiveWell has just published a podcast discussing their thinking about iron fortification and our work at Fortify Health. In it they discuss their lookback on their 2021, 8.2 million dollars grant to Fortify Health along with their decision to continue their support of our work with [...]

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Outline:

(00:12) TL;DR

(01:11) 1.    Background

(03:00) 2.   About Fortify Health

(03:04) 2.1. The problem

(04:03) 2.2. Our solution

(05:22) 2.3. What we are building toward

(06:29) 3.   Private Miller Partnerships - from .5 to 20 Million people reached

(07:17) 3.1. What drove the improvement: within our control

(08:43) 3.2. What drove the improvement: outside our control

(09:51) 4. Our government partnership story

(11:47) 5. What we learned

(11:51) Theme 1: Build the foundations before the pressure arrives

(13:52) Theme 2: Know what to measure, and be honest when you cannot

(16:51) Theme 3: Scale and sustainability are not the same

(19:28) Theme 4: It's hard to know when to pivot your strategy

(22:53) 6. Transferable Lessons for Others

(22:58) For implementers

(23:51) For funders and supporters

(24:52) For those considering working in this space

(25:29) 7. Help us support millions more people

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First published:

May 25th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fgD8PjAfraA4CjKNg/beyond-the-givewell-podcast-fortify-health-s-lessons-from

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Rethink Priorities just opened three positions:

• Researcher, Worldview Investigations Team
• Researcher, AI Cognition Initiative (Technical Focus)
• Researcher, AI Cognition Initiative (Economics Focus)  

We're excited to expand our team and we look forward to reviewing your application.

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First published:

May 21st, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vu5RnPnbfG3KWgakB/rethink-priorities-is-hiring

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This is a link post.

I've spent the last couple of years working on AI risk at Coefficient Giving, but it's only in the last few months that I’ve started to feel more viscerally that transformative AI is likely to happen and potentially very soon. To be honest, it probably took me longer than it should have.

This shift has been a really difficult emotional experience and I've been struggling at times. I imagine others reading this Forum might relate, I’m sorry if so.

Last month, I went home to spend Passover with my family, and I realized I needed to say something. It's just getting too real to sit with people I love and have normal conversations without mentioning how drastically and how quickly I think things could change for all of us. So I wrote them a letter describing where I think things could be headed.

CG has now published it on our Substack. It's written for a general audience (well, specifically my family), not for people already deep in these topics. I thought I’d share it here in case it's useful, whether you’re new to these ideas or have been working in the field for a while [...]

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First published:

May 25th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Kqn3AgamiJW68trZr/a-personal-letter-on-transformative-ai

Linkpost URL:
https://multipliercg.substack.com/p/a-personal-letter-on-transformative

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The following is a Linkedin post I'm hoping to make to the recently laid-off tech industry in hopes that it makes the AI Safety transition more convincing and palatable.

Please support by commenting or reposting on Friday, May 22 10AM PST | 6PM UTC. Feel free to add me on Linkedin (the 1st hour is most critical). I'll also update with the live link when it posts.

I am receptive to feedback, namely:

• not over-promising a 'easy' career transition into ai safety
• messaging thats most tractable for impact

Hey there,

In light of the recent Meta Tech Layoffs, first, I'm sorry that this happened to you. Another one of life's shit that is thrown at us. A time to put on some armor and roll with the punches headed for your head. There are no words.

I'm Jen. Last year, I left my job at Google. Many of you will start applying headfirst into similar roles at other companies, maybe that growing AI startup where your job feels secure in this new economy.

I am here to ask you to consider an additional industry in your search: AI Safety.

With all the excitement around AI and its [...]

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Outline:

(00:43) I am here to ask you to consider an additional industry in your search: AI Safety.

(01:38) How you can add the AI Safety field to your job search

(01:43) 1) Spend time getting oriented and upskilling

(02:39) 2) Figure out what your role could be (Guide)

(03:39) 3) Apply in parallel, not instead

(04:01) 4) If you get traction, there are endless ways to go deeper.

(04:36) Case Studies of Real People who pivoted from Tech to AI Safety

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First published:

May 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7MEZzqQZtf9fQc24T/a-plea-to-the-laid-off-from-an-ex-googler

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

After reading Abraham Rowe's reflections around the new money in EA, I found myself wishing there were more concrete ideas for how we can make the most of the enormous opportunity ahead. I often hear stewardship discussed in the context of managing money or leading institutions. I think one neglected lever for stewarding the future of the EA movement is offering and asking for help. Below are four ways we might do this:

Sharing impactful roles and career resources with friends:

If you have a high-integrity friend who takes pride in doing great work, I encourage you to reach out to them about applying to impactful roles, even if they don’t identify as an EA.

Many of my co-workers joined Coefficient Giving because of its reputation as a great place to work and because it was a place they could help others — not because they had tons of prior EA context. Their contributions at the org are invaluable, and CG would not be able to do nearly as much if only “hardcore EAs” applied. [1]

There are more job opportunities now than ever before at EA orgs.[2] Some orgs, particularly in AI safety, are increasing their salaries. This [...]

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Outline:

(00:36) Sharing impactful roles and career resources with friends:

(01:39) Negotiating expenses

(02:39) Executive Assistance

(04:23) Requesting and sharing best practices

(05:21) How I'm trying to put this in practice:

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First published:

May 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/MDcaWPGwtFHmyqT3J/stewardship-in-ea-s-most-important-era

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post.

Abstract

Several major technology companies have announced plans to operate AI data centers in orbit. Elon Musk recently claimed: “the lowest-cost place to put AI will be space […] within two years, maybe three.” If a meaningful fraction of new AI compute really is placed in space within a few years, that would be a fairly big deal for AI governance and strategy. Here we try to disentangle the hype from reality and provide a sober assessment of the technical and economic feasibility of orbital data centers (ODCs).

The main case for ODCs is the cost of energy: space solar panels in the right orbits receive more constant and intense sunlight compared to Earth. Moreover, ODCs don’t currently face the same permitting and regulatory delays as on Earth, cause fewer ongoing environmental harms compared to grid or onsite natural gas-powered data centers, and may be more secure against data exfiltration. We find that the cost-competitiveness case for ODCs depends almost entirely on Starship achieving reusability comparable with what SpaceX achieved with Falcon: space-based solar reaches cost parity with present-day off-grid terrestrial power continuously at roughly $250/kg to orbit, and becomes cheaper than any current terrestrial [...]

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Outline:

(00:14) Abstract

(02:28) Introduction & Takeaways

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First published:

May 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/CEaMp2dXKxkh3HhDt/will-we-really-put-data-centers-in-space

Linkpost URL:
https://www.forethought.org/research/will-we-really-put-data-centers-in-space

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TL;DR: AIM is running its first incubation round focused exclusively on animal welfare, in partnership with Aaron Boddy (co-founder of Shrimp Welfare Project). It'll run in early 2027, and we’re on the hunt for all-star future founders — especially the ones who care about animal welfare but have been quietly assuming they're a bad fit for the cause.

Want to learn more? Drop into our office hours at EAG London this Saturday, 12–1pm (find it on Swapcard), or fill out our expression of interest form.

Curious about what this means for our global health and development work? The short answer: nothing's changing[1].

A program built to incubate transformational animal charities

This is the best-resourced and most fit-for-purpose version of AIM's program we've run for animal founders. Our charity incubation program was built to accommodate a wide range of types of charities, and we’ve long hypothesized that running rounds with a tighter focus could enable an even higher hit-rate of field-leading charities.

By focusing this round entirely on animal welfare, we can tailor the research process, founder recruitment efforts, and program content and support to what animal charities specifically need, instead of what works on average across cause areas. The [...]

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Outline:

(00:56) A program built to incubate transformational animal charities

(01:50) Why now

(03:36) You don't need to be an "animal person"

(04:50) Why coming to this fresh is genuinely useful

(05:57) What we're looking to incubate

(07:04) Come find us

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First published:

May 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/afoobcsEYFKvYk3bp/why-now-might-be-the-best-time-ever-to-start-an-animal

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.