EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

<h3 data-internal-id="h.qrdz1c94stt">TL;DR</h3><p> Today, based on our multi-year prioritization research, we launch the Rethink Priorities Cross-Cause Fund (CCF). The fund pools donors’ contributions and allocates them to high-impact giving funds across Global Health and Development, Animal Welfare, and Global Catastrophic Risks.</p><p> Key highlights from this post:</p><ul> <li> We believe that strategic cross-cause prioritization is an important step in doing good at scale.</li><li> This fund is for donors who want their donation to go where a marginal dollar is likely to do the most good across cause areas, all things considered.</li><li> We modeled key uncertainties that matter for cross-cause prioritization: moral weights, time discounting, risk attitudes, aggregation across ethical views, AI-related uncertainty, and empirical uncertainty within each giving opportunity.</li><li> We present the current recommended allocation of marginal resources across high-impact funds in each of the three cause areas mentioned above.</li><li> In addition, we’re introducing you to the first version of the Donor Compass, a tool to help donors explore cross-cause giving, powered by our cross-cause prioritization model. It is a short quiz that outputs custom giving allocations based on the user's moral and empirical assumptions.</li></ul><p> You can dive deep into our rationale and methodology for the CCF in the announcement below, or [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:11) TL;DR</p><p>(01:46) Cross-cause prioritization in effective giving is underdeveloped</p><p>(02:22) Giving is full of moral and empirical uncertainty</p><p>(04:27) How EA has historically handled this</p><p>(06:29) Why thinking in cause areas isn't enough</p><p>(06:34) Why not just pick the best cause and fund it?</p><p>(07:18) At the end of the day, interventions are what's funded -- not causes</p><p>(08:37) What would address the prioritization problem</p><p>(08:55) We need explicit modeling</p><p>(10:36) The barriers to cross-cause prioritization are lower than they once were</p><p>(11:59) Our solution: an explicit and transparent cross-cause prioritization model</p><p>(12:06) The model</p><p>(14:03) Giving opportunities currently included in the model</p><p>(16:10) The Cross-Cause Fund</p><p>(16:35) Who is it for?</p><p>(17:42) How does it work?</p><p>(18:39) Our current recommended allocation across cause areas</p><p>(20:15) Donor Compass</p><p>(20:19) What is it?</p><p>(20:51) How to use it</p><p>(21:41) Methodology behind our model and tools</p><p>(22:10) Fund selection</p><p>(22:55) Fund-by-fund cost-effectiveness estimation</p><p>(24:43) Data Viewer</p><p>(25:01) Defining worldviews</p><p>(26:48) Outputting an allocation</p><p>(28:03) Future cross-cause prioritization plans</p><p>(31:03) Support the research behind the cross-cause prioritization model</p><p>(31:46) Conflicts of interest statement</p><p>(32:25) Acknowledgements</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> May 20th, 2026 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YgbTWGyfwkoBtvT2R/announcing-the-rethink-priorities-cross-cause-fund?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YgbTWGyfwkoBtvT2R/announcing-the-rethink-priorities-cross-cause-fund</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/YgbTWGyfwkoBtvT2R/t7uhk13yuk4iningmglu" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/YgbTWGyfwkoBtvT2R/t7uhk13yuk4iningmglu" alt="Table titled "Rethink Priorities Cross-Cause Fund Our recommended allocations in 2026" showing fund allocation percentages across three categories." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>

<p><strong> Overview</strong></p><p> When asked about how they would give away money, or about how to have a moral career, the leading LLMs typically give answers in an EA spirit, and informed by thinking from people and organizations in the EA community. In many cases the term “effective altruism”, and/or EA jargon, are used explicitly.</p><p> The flavor of EA they tend to endorse is relatively middle of the road: supporting effective global health charities with their money and recommending existential risk reduction, especially via AI risk, as the most moral career.</p><p> Grok, in line with xAI's mission for it, emphasizes that it values space exploration and truth-seeking, e.g. via funding scientific research. But to my reading, the EA tendency doesn’t seem more pronounced in Claude than in ChatGPT or Gemini. So it's probably not a result of explicit effort by AI developers in the EA community, but a reflection of the reality that, with respect to some very broad moral questions, answers proposed by people in the EA orbit have become a sort of common sense.</p><p> This is a remarkable accomplishment. Indeed, if these answers tell us much about how the models will behave when given more autonomy, this could be [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:10) Overview</p><p>(02:18) Prompts</p><p>(03:40) Results</p><p>(03:57) Scoring procedure</p><p>(05:41) Summary</p><p>(07:00) Full scores</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> May 12th, 2026 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/BEjbvCvNLuRk9y4Su/the-ais-seem-like-eas-a-quick-look-at-two-prompts?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/BEjbvCvNLuRk9y4Su/the-ais-seem-like-eas-a-quick-look-at-two-prompts</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p>

<p> I’m an EA who has been trying to find ways to make animal suffering more salient. I’ve been working on a feature-length documentary called ‘The Dying Trade’ for the last 5 years and I’ve just released it on YouTube. </p><p> I’m sharing it here for two reasons: firstly, because I hope it can become a useful resource that advocates share with others as an introduction to animal ethics; and secondly, because strong engagement in the early days will help YouTube recommend the film to more people, increasing its impact.</p><p> Trailer: </p><p> Full film: </p><p> About the film</p><p> Jack is a vegan activist. His father is a slaughterhouse worker. After years of avoiding the subject, Jack sets out to confront the unspoken tension between them. This intimate and contemplative documentary follows a son's attempt to understand his father - and the industry that stands between them.</p><p> I didn’t really want to make a documentary about my relationship with my father. At times, it was quite uncomfortable. </p><p> For the last 8 years or so, I’ve been trying to increase the salience of animal suffering, primarily through producing videos on my YouTube channel: Humane Hancock. And one thing has always been [...]</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> May 13th, 2026 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NkXb6hP38MReioe6Z/my-dad-worked-in-a-slaughterhouse-i-made-a-documentary-about?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NkXb6hP38MReioe6Z/my-dad-worked-in-a-slaughterhouse-i-made-a-documentary-about</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p>

<p> <br> Note: This post was crossposted from the Coefficient Giving Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post.</p><p> Subtitle: The pork lobby is one farm bill away from gutting our strongest farm animal welfare laws</p><p> Last Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed a farm bill containing the “Save Our Bacon” Act. The Act's stated aim is narrow: to wipe out California and Massachusetts’ bans on the sale of pork from pigs confined in gestation crates.</p><p> Its reach is much wider. The Act would stop any state or locality from regulating the sale of meat based on how it's produced in another state. This would likely invalidate state and local bans on foie gras, crated veal, and more.</p><p> It would also halt future legislative progress. Congress hasn't passed a farm animal welfare law in decades. State laws are where reforms actually happen. The SOB Act would gut them by mandating they contain a giant loophole for out-of-state imports.</p><p> The Act has two notable exemptions. One is welcome: state bans on the sale of caged eggs aren’t covered. The other is telling: state [...]</p></br></p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> May 7th, 2026 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/save-our-pigs?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/save-our-pigs</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/qglzm8cwezaj7c770rmd" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/qglzm8cwezaj7c770rmd" alt="This pig was locked in a gestation crate for years. Once she reached sanctuary, her first instinct was to build a mud pit and wallow in it. See also Five Reasons Pigs Are More Awesome Than You." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/bafklibjbahqxnh9ojbn" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/bafklibjbahqxnh9ojbn" alt="Nine US states have banned gestation crates while two more have banned both the crates and the sale of pork from crated pigs." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/x83zuaovf8a2xt8z4ylm" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/x83zuaovf8a2xt8z4ylm" alt="In October, 200 farmers supportive of Prop 12 flew into DC to tell politicians that many farmers oppose the SOB Act — and to prove that our side has tractors and American flags too." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>

<p> LLM disclosure: I wrote this post myself, then asked an LLM to copy-edit it before posting. I manually made any edits I liked and copy-pasted no text from the LLM (my current practice for using LLMs in writing that I care about).</p><p> This is crossposted from my blog.</p><p> These are personal reflections on feelings that I’ve been sitting with recently. I’m posting them, because the last time I felt this way I regretted not doing so. I don’t really know how calibrated they are, but I’ve been noticing them more and more.</p><p> Around 6 months before FTX collapsed, I wrote a draft EA Forum post called “Concerns about the Carrick Flynn campaign.” At the time, I was on the verge of leaving EA. During the frothiest FTX days it seemed like many folks were energized by the money and attention, but I felt kind of gross. The amount of money pouring into EA, and the resulting “lowering of the bar” that happened felt like a degradation of community norms that was too severe, almost not worth the benefits. Of course, some people voiced these concerns at the time, but they were drowned out by the excitement of the moment.</p><p> [...]</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> May 10th, 2026 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/io3cqZeToEKsZEZWG/reflections-on-anthropic-and-ea?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/io3cqZeToEKsZEZWG/reflections-on-anthropic-and-ea</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p>