EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

As members of the EA community in India, we feel compelled to register our concern about the timing & location of EAGxIndia 2025, scheduled for 13–14 December in New Delhi [1]. December is peak smog season in Delhi—a time when the city's air quality predictably descends into hazardous territory. The average reading breaches 400 (‘Severe' category per the CPCB), with ambient PM2.5 concentration up to 30 times higher than the WHO's recommended safety threshold. As of this drafting, the National Capital Region has logged three consecutive days of sustained "Severe" air quality: with the overall AQI readings of 428 on Nov 11, 418 on Nov 12, and 404 on Nov 13,2025.

The decision to convene a major conference during this peak pollution period necessitates at least some direct exposure of participants to ambient PM2.5 levels that constitute a Class 1 carcinogen, inherently elevating the health-risk profile for all attendees.

Detailed Notes on Delhi's Winter Air-Quality Crisis:

15 November 2024. People in New Delhi commute through thick winter smog as air quality reaches the “severe” category (AQI ≈ 424) according to the CPCB. 
Photo: EPA/Rajat Gupta

Every winter—especially after the late‑October Diwali festival—Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) drops from “moderate” or [...]

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Outline:

(01:18) Detailed Notes on Delhi's Winter Air-Quality Crisis:

(04:37) EAGxIndia 2025: Information Gap and Contradictory Protocols

(06:34) Sources

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First published:

November 15th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7qGHbvbMpCbfJ5gbS/eagxindia-2025-a-call-for-safety-caution

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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When the next pandemic hits our ability to stop it will depend on the

infrastructure we already have in place. A key missing piece is clean

indoor air. An airborne pathogen can be very hard to contain, and we

would want to move fast to limit spread. But how quickly we can get

measures in place, and how thoroughly they would work, depends

critically on the base we have to build up from.

Indoor air today is dirty by default. The air you breathe in is air

others have breathed out, complete with a wide range of viruses and

bacteria. It's a little gross if you think about it, and people do

get sick a lot, but most of the time we just accept the downsides.

If something really serious were going around, though, this isn't a

risk we'd accept. We'd need clean air: some combination of replacing

infected air with outside air (ventilation), physically removing

pathogens (purifiers, masks), or inactivating pathogens (far-UVC, glycol

vapors).

I hear a lot about stockpiling as a way to set us up for clean air

when we most need it. Get a lot of masks, air purifiers, far-UVC [...]

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First published:

November 15th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/2Gv9Ki4KH2ywGhcs5/everyday-clean-air

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Summary

• I would say the total welfare of soil animals is overdetermined to be much larger than that of farmed invertebrates in absolute terms. The individual welfare per animal-year of soil ants and termites should not differ much from that of farmed invertebrates, and I calculate the population of soil ants and termites is 3.93 M times that of farmed black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and mealworms, and 652 k times that of farmed shrimps.
• Projects targeting soil animals receive way less funding than ones targeting farmed invertebrates. The Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) granted 460 k$ to projects targeting invertebrates until 7 November 2025. In contrast, the Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) received 2.9 M$ in 2024.
• I believe interventions changing land use can increase welfare much more cost-effectively than ones targeting farmed invertebrates. I estimate funding the Centre for Exploratory Altruism Research's (CEARCH's) High Impact Philanthropy Fund (HIPF), which I calculate increases agricultural land by 1.29 k m2-years per $, changes the welfare of soil ants, termites, springtails, mites, and nematodes 3.43 k times as cost-effectively as SWP's Humane Slaughter Initiative (HSI) increases the welfare of shrimps.
• I recommend research on the welfare of soil animals in different biomes over pursuing whatever land use change interventions naively look the most cost-effective. I have little [...]

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Outline:

(00:11) Summary

(03:04) The total welfare of soil animals is much larger in absolute terms

(08:37) Projects targeting soil animals receive way less funding

(09:23) Interventions changing land use can increase welfare much more cost-effectively than ones targeting farmed invertebrates

(10:29) I recommend research informing how to increase the welfare of soil animals

(11:20) There is no escape from the uncertainty of the effects on soil animals

(14:27) Interested in funding research informing how to increase the welfare of soil animals?

(14:54) Acknowledgements

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First published:

November 15th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7pwjTpiaD4ytj4W9Y/prioritise-soil-animals-over-farmed-invertebrates

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Cross-post from the EcoResilience Initiative blog.

Recently we highlighted precision fermentation as our top biodiversity intervention due to its potential to permanently reduce deforestation within 5-10 years. The fact that it is currently underfunded, is highly scalable, is at a stage with high leverage, and could have a massive global impact makes it stand out above other methods to reduce future biodiversity loss. But within the domain of “precision fermentation” where is the best place to send donations? What efforts within this industry are most targeted towards biodiversity preservation?

Terra Bioindustries is doing exactly the right work, but they're not set up for donations at this time. If you are looking for a place to donate right now, you can give to the Good Food Institute here, which supports the broader field. (If you donate, we request that you add a comment mentioning ERI in your donation or tell us you donated, so we can track our effect. Thank you for making the world a better place!)

How we Chose: Current Bottlenecks

There are several important blocks holding back the development of precision fermentation into a dominant food source. Here is a well-composed list of the current unsolved obstacles. [...]

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Outline:

(01:12) How we Chose: Current Bottlenecks

(03:10) The Contenders

(07:11) Recent Breakthroughs

(08:12) Donate Now?

(10:49) Want to help EcoResilience Initiative?

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First published:

November 15th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wjH6d3giH9gM3j5CW/high-impact-projects-fighting-biodiversity-loss

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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This is a link post.

Our Forecasting team just launched a new RFP focused on using AI to improve human reasoning in a structured and quantified way. The team plans to make grants in the $100k-$1M range for projects lasting between 6 months and 2 years; proposals will be accepted until at least January 30, 2026.

The RFP includes two areas of interest:

AI for forecasting: We are looking for proposals for AI models that help to make forecasts more accurate or more relevant. We are primarily interested in probabilistic, judgmental forecasting, i.e. quantitative forecasts that cannot be based fully on large sets of structured data. Aside from models that directly produce forecasts, ideally approaching or exceeding human performance on forecasting tasks, we’re also looking to fund work on models that perform one or more of the subtasks involved in using forecasts for decision-making, such as explaining the reasoning behind forecasts or building forecasting models.

AI for sound reasoning: Modern AI models are being adopted at a rapid pace throughout society, including for high-stakes decisions in law, academia and policy. We expect this trend to continue over the coming years, and possibly accelerate. It seems crucial to us that models [...]

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First published:

November 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/odjxgRHGqKAGin8aR/request-for-proposals-ai-for-forecasting-and-sound-reasoning

Linkpost URL:
https://www.openphilanthropy.org/request-for-proposals-ai-for-forecasting-and-sound-reasoning/

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This post was originally published as a blog post on the 80,000 Hours website.

Everyone talks about the importance of networking for a successful career. And they’re right — the people you connect with will shape your habits, the ideas you’re exposed to, and your job opportunities.

But how do you actually network well?

I (Zershaaneh) asked this question to 80,000 Hours' career advisors, who have helped thousands of people break into high-impact roles. Here's what they recommended.

How to network

The basics are simple: find people who can help you learn or move forward with your career, or who you can help. Increase your opportunities to connect with them, and try to build genuine relationships with the people you meet.

Find the right people 

• Attend conferences, courses, and social events in your professional community, or one you'd like to be a part of. There are many opportunities to meet like-minded people in person and virtually — we have lots of recommendations to get you started on our community page.
• Get involved in online discourse. People often use social media, forums, and other online platforms to connect with others and discuss ideas. Whatever your interests are, there's probably an online [...]

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Outline:

(00:45) How to network

(01:02) Find the right people

(02:47) Multiply your opportunities to network

(03:47) Have great conversations and build relationships

(05:03) Reaching out to people you don't know

(06:07) More resources

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First published:

November 14th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/M9bpDP79x2GcRPsmv/how-to-network-lessons-from-80-000-hours-advising-team

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Author's note: This is an adapted version of my recent talk at EA Global NYC (I’ll add a link when it's available). The content has been adjusted to reflect things I learned from talking to people after my talk. If you saw the talk, you might still be interested in the “some objections” section at the end.

Summary

Wild animal welfare faces frequent tractability concerns, amounting to the idea that ecosystems are too complex to intervene in without causing harm. However, I suspect these concerns reflect inconsistent justification standards rather than unique intractability. To explore this idea:

• I provide some context about why people sometimes have tractability concerns about wild animal welfare, providing a concrete example using bird-window collisions.
• I then describe four approaches to handling uncertainty about indirect effects: spotlighting (focusing on target beneficiaries while ignoring broader impacts), ignoring cluelessness (acting on knowable effects only), assigning precise probabilities to all outcomes, and seeking ecologically inert interventions.
• I argue that, when applied consistently across cause areas, none of these approaches suggest wild animal welfare is distinctively intractable compared to global health or AI safety. Rather, the apparent difference most commonly stems from arbitrarily wide "spotlights" applied to [...]

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Outline:

(00:31) Summary

(02:15) Consequentialism + impartial altruism → hard to do good

(03:43) The challenge: Deep uncertainty and backfire risk

(04:41) Example: Bird-window collisions

(05:22) We don't actually understand the welfare consequences of bird-window collisions on birds

(06:08) We don't know how birds would die otherwise

(07:06) The effects on other animals are even more uncertain

(09:16) Four approaches to handling uncertainty

(10:08) Spotlighting

(15:31) Set aside that which you are clueless about

(18:31) Assign precise probabilities

(20:06) Seek ecologically inert interventions

(22:04) Some objections & questions

(22:17) The global health comparison: Spotlighting hasnt backfired (for humans)

(23:22) Action-inaction distinctions

(25:01) Why should justification standards be the same?

(26:53) Conclusion

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First published:

November 14th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/2YjqfYktNGcx6YNRy/if-wild-animal-welfare-is-intractable-everything-is

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TL;DR: Applications close Sunday, November 16th. If you're thinking about starting an EA group or improving an existing one, OSP gives you a mentor, structure, and resources to help you run a great group. Apply here!

Current and past OSP participants - please share your experience in the comments!

Applications for OSP's Spring 2026 round close this Sunday, November 16th. OSP is CEA's mentorship programme for university and city group organisers - it pairs you with an experienced mentor for structured planning and support at the start of your semester.

I ran EA Manchester for two years (one of those I was an OSP mentee), then mentored over 10 groups through OSP. I now run the programme at CEA. This post explains what OSP actually does and shares what this round's participants said about how it helped them.

What Actually Happens in OSP

OSP is a three-week mentorship programme (with optional semester-long support). You get paired with a mentor who's run a group before and knows what works. There are structured planning workshops and a semester planning workbook.

You also connect with other organisers - through group calls and a Slack workspace where you can ask questions [...]

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Outline:

(01:11) What Actually Happens in OSP

(02:35) What Changes: Things Organisers Tell Us

(03:58) Who OSP Is For

(04:41) Why I Think This Matters

(06:18) The Practical Details

(06:51) Apply Now

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First published:

November 13th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tuHdXnNbaLwAK2thn/why-i-think-osp-matters-for-group-organisers-or-spring-2026-1

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Anthropic was started by a bunch of EAs/ EA interested people, and it still contains a bunch of EAs/ EA interested people.

On plausible assumptions (i.e. if Anthropic stays an extremely valuable AI company, it goes public at some point in the next few years, and at that point, employees who have equity sell some of it), several ~EA-aligned employees of Anthropic could become (multi?) billionaires.

They may want to spend that money quickly, especially if they expect the world to be unpredictable post-intelligence explosion.

This may mean drastically more funding for EA. Depending on Anthropic's valuation, this could be more than 100 billion/ year.

Some questions for this thread:

• How plausible do you find this basic story? What odds would you put on Anthropic going public/ employees giving billions to EA aligned causes?
• The general vibe was that EA as a community was unprepared for the influx of money from FTX in 2022, and this had some negative effects on the culture. If we assumed that a similar or larger amount of money would be injected into EA-aligned causes in 2027… how could we prepare better this time?
• What else should we do in preparation for scenarios [...]

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First published:

November 14th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/acHJKBcs6ekyLqzay/possible-anthropic-billionaires-discussion-thread

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Long time lurker, first time poster - be nice please! :)

I was searching for summary data of EA funding trends, but couldn't find anything more recent than Tyler's post from 2022. So I decided to update it. If this analysis is done properly anywhere, please let me know.

The spreadsheet is here (some things might look weird due to importing from Excel to sheets)

Observations

• EA grantmaking appears on a steady downward trend since 2022 / FTX.
• The squeeze on GH funding to support AI / other longtermist priorities appears to be really taking effect this year (though 2025 is a rough estimate and has significant uncertainty.)
• I am really interested in particular about the apparent drop in GW grants this year. I suspect that it is wrong or at least misleading - the metrics report suggests they are raising ~$300m p.a. from non OP donors. Not sure if I have made an error (missing direct to charity donations?) or if they are just sitting on funding with the ongoing USAID disruption.

Methodology

• I compiled the latest grants databases from EA Funds, GiveWell, OpenPhilanthropy, and SFF. I added summary level data from ACE.
• To remove [...]

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Outline:

(00:41) Observations

(01:26) Methodology

(02:12) Notes

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First published:

November 14th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NWHb4nsnXRxDDFGLy/historical-ea-funding-data-2025-update

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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