EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

My - purely anecdotal - sense is that GiveWell pays more than many of its social sector peers. I imagine for many employees, their compensation at GiveWell exceeds what they'd earn if they took the next-best available job (as judged by the employee), which is often also in the social sector. This would create some "job lock" where people will stay at GiveWell even if they think they can do more good elsewhere; that extra good is outweighed by their higher material well-being if they stay at GiveWell.

I wish nonprofit salaries were uniformly higher, but since they aren't, when one org has higher salaries than its peers, that has both pros and cons, from the vantage point of social good. The pros include (1) attracting people into the social sector whose counterfactual job was not a socially-minded one (2) for the org, attracting talent away from other social sector orgs that it can use better than peers would. A con is the golden handcuffs, when the opposite of (2) holds: Some people forgo the chance to do something higher impact to stay at GiveWell.

GiveWell isn't the only org in the social sector that [...]

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First published:

December 23rd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uFcqxL9GAYRzjbM54/offering-higher-salaries-than-social-sector-peers

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Following the release of the documentary Seantience early this year, Animal Ethics will launch a new film in early 2026: AI &Animals. This documentary examines how advances in AI may affect the lives of nonhuman animals, both negatively and positively. You can watch the teaser here.

The film features advocates and academics discussing:

• How AI systems could increase animal suffering in factory farming
• How AI-driven research and monitoring can scale efforts to reduce wild animal suffering, and help develop research methods that do not harm animals
• The risks of embedding speciesist values in large language models and other AI systems, and what can be done about them
• How animal advocates can use AI tools to increase the effectiveness and reach of their work, as well as how these tools can be especially helpful in developing alternatives to current practices that harm animals

Contributors interviewed in the documentary include:

• Peter Singer · Princeton University
• Max Taylor · Animal Charity Evaluators
• Constance Li · Sentient Futures
• Jonathan Birch · London School of Economics
• Bernice Bovenkerk · Wageningen University & Research
• Tse Yip Fai · National University of Singapore
• Aditya S. Karanam · Animal Ethics
• Jeff Sebo · New York [...]

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First published:

December 22nd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6FeBGC3vvSbQQrzf6/new-documentary-on-ai-and-animals

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

AI in aquaculture research at Rethink Priorities

Rethink Priorities’ How AI is affecting farmed aquatic animals is a three-part series that examines AI technologies being developed to address challenges in the aquaculture industry. As global aquaculture faces economic and technical constraints, this series examines whether and how the industry is turning to AI solutions to facilitate expansion. The series evaluates the innovation, deployment, and animal welfare impacts of these technologies to help animal advocates and funders identify which developments should be endorsed and what actions should be taken to prevent increased animal suffering.

For all queries, please contact [email protected].

AI in farmed aquaculture series

Artificial intelligence (AI) introduces new capabilities to animal agriculture that could alter production methods, economic structures, and animal welfare outcomes. Responding strategically requires an understanding of how quickly such changes will unfold, whether they will benefit or harm animal welfare, and what interventions will remain relevant. In this three-part series, we take a close look at how AI will be used over the next five years in aquaculture, which collectively farms hundreds of billions of animals each year for food.

Part 1: Innovation

This report analyzes the current state of AI innovation in aquaculture, including [...]

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Outline:

(00:18) AI in farmed aquaculture series

(02:09) Executive summary

(04:33) Background

(04:36) Technological change is a multi-stage process

(07:00) Challenges faced by the aquaculture industry

(12:12) Cost-breakdown examples in aquaculture

(15:18) Scope

(15:52) Identification of AI technologies in aquaculture

(16:51) Results

(17:33) Stock and growth management leads, with other functions following closely

(23:20) The headquarters of AI innovation are predominantly found in the US and Norway

(26:51) AI technologies predominantly apply to fishes

(30:28) Conclusions

(31:37) Acknowledgements

(32:51) Appendix

(32:55) Method

(32:58) Desk research

(34:35) Data checking

(35:45) Definitions

(35:49) Attributing companies and recording headquarters and founding dates

(36:12) Product functions of AI technologies

(37:14) Classification of species targeted

(38:40) Criteria for impacting farmed animal welfare

(38:54) Ways in which we could be wrong

(38:58) How our database could be incomplete or inaccurate

(41:37) Regional groupings

(42:34) Bibliography

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First published:

December 19th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/H27XSwiYxqeLEA5kZ/how-ai-is-affecting-farmed-aquatic-animals-part-1-innovation

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Cross-posted from my Substack.

Summary. I state the “Ideal Reflection” principle, which says that our beliefs should match our expectations of what an ideal version of ourselves would believe. I argue that Ideal Reflection can help rationalize how Effective Altruists use the concept of expected value, and that whether we accept Ideal Reflection has important real-world implications.

Here's an aspect of Effective Altruist discourse that has confused me for the longest time: EAs will often talk about “the” expected value of an intervention. This suggests that “the” expected value is an objective feature of the world. But this clashes with the usual Bayesian story, where expected values are a matter of subjective belief.

For example, the 80,000 Hours page on expected value says (my emphasis):

Making explicit estimates of expected value is sometimes useful as a method — such as when you’re comparing two global health interventions — but it's often better to look for useful rules of thumb and robust arguments, or even use gut intuitions and snap decisions to save time… little of our work at 80,000 Hours involves explicit or quantitative estimates of the impact of different careers. Rather, we focus on finding good proxies [...]

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First published:

December 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7A2CCpc9kCj2BpiBZ/whose-expected-value-making-sense-of-ea-epistemology-with

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TL;DR: Working as Lead Outreach Manager at a mental health nonprofit in Japan, I realized we couldn't answer a basic question funders kept asking: "What's your actual impact?" We had activity metrics (workshops delivered, calls answered) but no outcome metrics. So I built a cost-effectiveness framework using national police data and our publicly available financial records to create a model-based estimate of potential impact. Under plausible assumptions (25% intervention effectiveness), the program costs ~¥720,000 ($4,830) per DALY averted - 7× below WHO's threshold for highly cost-effective interventions. This analysis helped transform how we communicate impact to grant organizations, though significant uncertainties remain.

Background: The Question That Started Everything

I've been working at a Tokyo-based mental health organization for almost a year now, managing outreach programs and grant coordination. The learning curve has been steep - delivering mental health workshops to schools and businesses across four Japanese regions simultaneously, managing distributed teams, engaging donors remotely. There were ups and downs, failed pilot programs, and moments of genuine impact I couldn't quite quantify.

Then came the rejection email.

We'd applied for a major grant to expand our youth suicide prevention programs. The proposal highlighted impressive activity metrics: workshops delivered, hotline calls [...]

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Outline:

(01:11) Background: The Question That Started Everything

(02:44) The Problem: Activity Metrics ≠ Impact Metrics

(04:03) Collecting the Data: What I Had and What I Needed

(04:41) 1. National baseline: How big is the problem?

(05:56) 2. Program reach: Who did we actually engage?

(08:25) 3. Expected deaths without intervention

(08:53) 4. Intervention effectiveness: The biggest uncertainty

(10:46) Calculating Cost-Effectiveness of The Program

(10:51) DALYs averted

(11:20) Cost per DALY

(11:48) WHO threshold comparison

(12:16) What This Analysis Actually Shows (And Doesnt Show)

(12:21) What it shows:

(13:00) What it absolutely does NOT show:

(13:35) Lessons Learned: What Id Do Differently

(14:04) My Takeaways

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First published:

December 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Sg7ovepZcmY8GKpo3/how-i-attempted-to-measure-the-impact-of-my-nonprofit-s

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Da Nang EA Coworking Hub

Feb 1st – Apr 1st · Da Nang, Vietnam

A 2-month coworking + coliving hub for impact-focused professionals who want to do meaningful work alongside a like-minded community!

What is this?

The Da Nang Impact Hub is a temporary coworking and coliving setup for people working on impact-focused work. The goal is simple: make it easier to do focused work and build real connections with other like-minded professionals, without needing to be in expensive cities like SF or London to do it!

This is a pilot. We are a small group of friends organizing this on our own time, because we’ve found that similar coworking/coliving hubs (especially those focused on effective altruist communities) have been incredibly valuable to us, and we want to help make more of them happen in affordable places!

Why we’re doing this

We’ve spent time in EA (Effective Altruism) hubs and found them incredibly valuable, both professionally and socially. However, we feel that working alongside other impact-minded people shouldn’t require living in the world's most expensive cities.

We see affordable, intentional coworking hubs as a huge asset to the high-impact community, generating high-impact connections and collaborations and/or extending the financial [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) Da Nang EA Coworking Hub

(00:19) Feb 1st - Apr 1st * Da Nang, Vietnam

(00:43) What is this?

(01:22) Why we're doing this

(02:01) 📅 When & Where

(02:06) When: February 1 - April 1

(02:16) Where: An Hải neighborhood, Da Nang, Vietnam

(02:31) Housing Options

(03:13) 💸 Expected Costs

(04:01) 💻 Work schedule, activities, & daily rhythm

(05:21) 🙌 How to join

(06:03) 🫂 Who this is for

(06:58) Meet some of our community

(07:07) Damin Curtis

(07:36) Cian Dally

(08:07) Zoé Roy-Stang

(08:30) Moïri Gamboni

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First published:

December 20th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fiFqM2Ti5nRmRcg8D/join-our-ea-coworking-hub-in-southeast-asia-this-feb-april

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Longview is aiming to grow from our current team size (24) to 35+ in 2026. We’re inviting applications for ~nine open roles (see below) and I realised many potential applicants might not have a good sense of what Longview is and is like in 2025. Inspired by Lizka & Cb, this post aims to (1) update people about where Longview is at in 2025 and (2) share some of my experience from my 4+ years here.

Disclaimer: I am writing only from my perspective. Roles, personalities, and subjective experiences differ. I am very much not speaking for all Longview team members.

Longview in 2025

• We’re a multi-hub team with offices in London, DC, and NY*, intention to grow in the Bay (I’m based in Constellation), and a few remote team members
  *We’re currently in-between offices in NY, but expect to find a new office in the New Year
• We continue to advise ‘traditional philanthropists’ with education and individual grant opportunities, but we've also worked extensively over the last year with donors and potential donors who are already bought into the risks and who we can help to give better, faster, or more  
• This has, in [...]

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First published:

December 19th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/aX8xLjCLd4LMDpTYL/longview-is-hiring-what-longview-is-like-from-my-perspective

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

At many points now, I've been asked in private for a critique of EA / EA's history / EA's impact and I have ad-libbed statements that I feel guilty about because they have not been subjected to EA critique and refutation. I need to write up my take and let you all try to shoot it down.

Before I can or should try to write up that take, I need to fact-check one of my take-central beliefs about how the last couple of decades have gone down. My belief is that the Open Philanthropy Project, EA generally, and Oxford EA particularly, had bad AI timelines and bad ASI ruin conditional probabilities; and that these invalidly arrived-at beliefs were in control of funding, and were explicitly publicly promoted at the expense of saner beliefs.

An exemplar of OpenPhil / Oxford EA reasoning about timelines is that, as late as 2020, their position on timelines seemed to center on Ajeya Cotra's "Biological Timelines" estimate which put median timelines to AGI at 30 years later. Leadership dissent from this viewpoint, as I recall, generally centered on having longer rather than shorter median timelines.

An exemplar of poor positioning on AI ruin is [...]

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First published:

December 20th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6rEiZKtPtikEP4QRj/contradict-my-take-on-openphil-s-past-ai-beliefs

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Zoe Rosenberg made national headlines for rescuing chickens. The animal movement should keep experimenting with creative tactics.

I.   MY FRIEND IS IN JAIL

Last week, my friend Zoe Rosenberg was incarcerated. She joins the nearly two million Americans confined to jails and prisons, and the one billion animals caged within our nation's factory farms. The government will subject her to solitary confinement for 23 hours of the day, and it is already depriving her of the proper care to treat her Type I diabetes. The saving grace is that Zoe's jail-stay will be short: less than a month.

Zoe's case has attracted lots of attention because it's not just about her; it's about humanity. Her case asks of us… how should we relate to our fellow creatures? Is it okay for our food system to treat animals like objects? And, is it okay for our government to uphold this relational status? Punishing the people who care for animals, rather than the corporations that abuse them.

Judging from the public response, a growing number of people recognize the absurdity of Zoe's prosecution. Her incarceration, in fact, has launched her from our ten-person student club to our nation's largest newspapers [...]

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Outline:

(00:28) I.   MY FRIEND IS IN JAIL

(04:07) II.  THE WORLD IS OUR PLAYGROUND

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First published:

December 18th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xBBQipkkdthcBPdaN/my-friend-is-in-jail-and-the-world-is-our-playground

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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I’m a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, and I’m looking for a guest speaker to talk about utilitarianism and effective altruism in my spring course on “Pursuing the Good Life.” Think of this as an invitation to make your best pitch to college students that they should live well by putting philosophy into practice.

The class will survey answers to the question “What is the good life?” from a variety of philosophical and religious traditions. I’m inviting guest teachers who can share with the class both an academic understanding of a school of thought and their own experiences as practitioners. As we discuss utilitarianism, I hope to bring in a guest who can not only talk about how utilitarians think about happiness and value, but also speak to what it's like to make costly personal commitments on the basis of this philosophy. I've been impressed with the EA movement from afar and would love to give my students insight into this community.

While I’m generally inviting locals who can visit the class in person, I haven’t been able to get in touch with anyone at the UNC EA chapter (it seems to be defunct) or EA Raleigh. The effective [...]

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First published:

December 18th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rJmsFzxsKJd7gApSt/seeking-guest-teacher-to-represent-ea-at-unc

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.