Effective Altruism: the philosophy behind Silicon Valley's AI fears
Dario Amodei says he is not part of it. To many in the Trump administration, it fuels unfounded and exaggerated fears about artificial intelligence -- the kind of warnings Amodei has become known for.
Effective Altruism (EA) is a philanthropic movement that aims to use evidence and reason to determine the most effective ways to do good with a person's money and time. Its intellectual origins can be traced back to Australian philosopher Peter Singer, who argued in 1972 that individuals should be willing to sacrifice their resources and comforts to save lives in foreign lands.
The movement gained traction during the late 2000s and early 2010s, as people believed that advancements in technology, such as social media and smartphones, would promote empathy and democracy.
EA was founded by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, who quit their jobs to launch GiveWell in 2007. GiveWell produced data-driven analyses of charities' effectiveness, leading to the creation of Giving What We Can in 2009, which encouraged people to donate at least 10 percent of their income to tackle global poverty. The movement's three primary focuses are global poverty, factory-farmed animals, and global catastrophic risk, with the latter being the most controversial.
EA has found support in American tech circles and Wall Street, partly due to its data-driven approach. This has made it particularly appealing to engineers, software developers, and entrepreneurs. Notable EA proponents include Sam Bankman-Fried, a crypto-finance wunderkind who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, and his early investor, Elon Musk.
Musk played a role in connecting EA philosophers with Bankman-Fried, contributing to the development of long-termism, a philosophy that has become central to the movement.
EA's growing focus on AI risks has its roots in rationalism, an online community led by writer Eliezer Yudkowsky, who has warned about the potential dangers of superintelligent AI. EA and rationalism share a commitment to reasoning through evidence and probabilities, and maintaining that preventing human extinction should be a top priority.
Following the departure of researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned about the risks associated with AI companies, EA philosopher Dario Amodei published a lengthy essay advocating for a temporary slowdown in AI development.
Written by urgent.news from Economic Times Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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