EAG Talks (Aaron Bergman)

Hayley Clatterbuck will summarize key findings from Rethink Priorities' ""Causes and uncertainty: Rethinking value in expectation"" (CURVE) project, which evaluated the cost-effectiveness of existential risk mitigation projects under both standard expected utility maximization and risk aversion. Persistence of effect and future growth trajectory are the strongest contributors to expected utility. Different risk models often deliver different recommendations about which existential risk projects to pursue, but there are some actions for which these models agree. Clatterbuck will use these findings to draw lessons for cause prioritization within the global catastrophic risk space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABlf18gs7P0

Want to know why aid orgs aren't bigger fans of GiveWell and GiveDirectly type interventions? Having run the Department for International Development (DFID) ($20b/yr budget), Rory shares what the priorities of aid orgs like and what he would like them to be. Rory speaks to how we connect the pipes between EA ideas/evidence and bureaucrats. Rory Stewart was an MP (Member of Parliament) in the British Government between 2010 and 2019. He's a senior advisor for GiveDirectly and the host of the Rest Is Politics podcast. Rory's bestselling memoir "Politics On The Edge" was published in 2023, and Rory is currently the Brady–Johnson Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9V0zF94K_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XYieiIirmQ

This session is for attendees that are fairly new to the EA community. Catherine will give a quick overview of Effective Altruism, what the EA community does, and the ways our community is unique. EA conferences are unlike any other conferences! So Catherine will also share some tips on how you can make the most of your weekend, and give you a chance to meet other newcomers.

Watch on Youtube

People farm a lot of pigs. They farm even more chickens. And if they don’t already, they’re soon to farm even more black soldier flies. How should EAs distribute their resources to address these problems? And how should EAs compare benefits to animals with benefits to humans? This talk outlines a framework for answering these questions. Bob Fischer argues that we should use estimates of animals’ welfare ranges to compare how much good different interventions can accomplish. He also suggests some tentative welfare range estimates for several farmed species.

This weekend you have been surrounded by ambitious, like minded people. You might have learnt, made new connections, and/or been inspired to take action! In this session we’ll share tips and set up systems so you are more likely to stay motivated and follow up with your plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hnxxmhcQQc

Watch on Youtube

To prevent severe biological events that could rise to the level of a global catastrophic biological risk (GCBR), it will be critical to prevent pandemics that could result from accidental or deliberate misuse of the tools of modern bioscience and biotechnology. State development and use of biological weapons is among the most likely potential sources of GCBRs, but international systems for preventing and constraining state bioweapons programs are weak. This session is focusing on the actions the international community can take to address this challenge and disincentivize states from pursuing such programs. Jaime Yassif serves as Vice President of NTI Global Biological Policy and Programs (NTI | bio). In this role, she oversees NTI | bio’s work to reduce global catastrophic biological risks, strengthen biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, and drive progress in advancing global health security.

Watch on Youtube

Join the organizers for a brief welcome, followed by a talk with Toby Ord, a philosopher at Oxford University. Find out more about EA Global conferences at: www.eaglobal.org Learn more about effective altruism at: www.effectivealtruism.org

Professional groups and EA navigating uncertainty together with open-mindedness and humility Ellie Christian and Clare Harris Ellie Christian is a Newcastle-based medical doctor. She is a masters of public health student at the University of Sydney. She is the Australia coordinator for High Impact Medicine. Clare Harris is a junior medical doctor working as a researcher for Spencer Greenberg at SparkWave.tech. She's head of monitoring and evaluation at High Impact Medicine. She has experience working in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials research in neuroscience, and has also worked as a contractual researcher for academic and non-academic institutions."

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brP1sc5n4E4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJt3eyXLJxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IC720_qS7E

If an AI system learned a deceptive strategy, could we detect it and remove it using current state-of-the-art safety training techniques? That's the question that Evan and his coauthors at Anthropic sought to answer in their work on ""Sleeper Agents: Training Deceptive LLMs that Persist Through Safety Training"", which Evan will be discussing.

Evan Hubinger leads the new Alignment Stress-Testing team at Anthropic, which is tasked with red-teaming Anthropic's internal alignment techniques and evaluations. Prior to joining Anthropic, Evan was a Research Fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and worked on a variety of theoretical alignment work, including ""Risks from Learned Optimization in Advanced Machine Learning Systems"". Evan will be talking about the Anthropic Alignment Stress-Testing team's first paper, ""Sleeper Agents: Building Deceptive LLMs that Persist Through Safety Training"".

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgfT0AcosHw

In this talk, Kristian Rönn delves into the compelling notion that humanity’s gravitation towards short-term success and solutions poses a significant threat to our long-term survival and alignment with our deepest values. Dubbing this phenomenon the “Darwinian trap,” Rönn outlines how it underpins many of today’s most pressing issues—from the degradation of our workplaces to the global catastrophic threats of nuclear war, climate change, and artificial intelligence. He posits that by fostering cooperation and adopting principles from accounting—to accurately assess, track, and manage what truly matters—we can evade evolutionary traps, i.e., short-term successes and solutions that pose a significant threat to our long-term survival amidst the accelerating pace of technological advancement. Kristian left the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University to found the carbon accounting company Normative in 2014. His expertise in mathematics, philosophy, computer science, and AI has led to speaking engagements at notable forums like COP & Davos. Kristian has provided counsel to governments and international bodies and received recognition from the UNDP for his contribution to UN Goal 13. Google.org has acknowledged Kristian as a “Leader to Watch.”

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NwxJmXwI20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFkyW-Wo_gA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd51ca7HDKQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEDlMQn0hnY

Watch on Youtube

In this talk Ethan presents on how AI systems like ChatGPT can be used to help uncover potential risks in other AI systems, such as tendencies towards power-seeking, self-preservation, and sycophancy. Ethan is a research scientist and team lead at Anthropic working on large language models, and his work aims to reduce the risk of catastrophic outcomes from advanced machine learning systems. He also spend some time at New York University (NYU) collaborating with Sam Bowman's group on AI safety research.

Join the organizers for a brief welcome and a group photo of attendees, followed by three short talks from key community members. We will hear remarks from: Lizka Vaintrob Kuhan Jeyapragasan Arden Koehler Lizka runs the EA Newsletter, the EA Forum Digest, and the non-engineering side of the EA Forum at the Centre for Effective Altruism. Kuhan currently runs the Cambridge Boston Alignment Initiative, which runs AI technical safety and governance programming primarily at MIT and Harvard, and previously co-founded and ran the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Arden manages the 80,000 Hours website, with a particular focus on the advice they give their readers about how to use their careers to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. She has a PhD in philosophy from New York University (2020), where she specialised in ethics and attitudes toward time.

Climate change is one of the biggest problems we have to face. This talk discusses some of the more effective and neglected methods of addressing climate change, and unpacks what Australia can do to make a difference in climate on a global scale. Jack Rafferty is the Manager of Climate Giving for Giving Green Australia. Prior to joining Giving Green, Jack was the Co-founder and Director of Lead Exposure Elimination Project, a policy focused international NGO that is working to end childhood lead poisoning worldwide.Jack holds bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Science and Philosophy from the University of Sydney.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZShvP97sjY

This is talk about the Data for Activism and it focused on enligting how data can be leveraged to empower citizens to demand transparency and accountability for good governance. Most references from the talk are in Nigerian context.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKwp6n2yg5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYIDzXLIfoM

In this session, Loic presents the concept of emerging innovations in international development (a.k.a Best Bets) and goes over the 14 that IPA has identified in a recent flagship report. As Chief Research & Policy Officer for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Loic's work is about championing research and evidence that is connected with real-world decision-makers to improve the lives of people living in poverty. In practice, Loic oversees IPA's various sector programs, IPA's Policy team, and the Right-Fit-Evidence unit—an advisory unit that helps funders and implementers with their own use of M&E (monitoring and evaluation), data and evidence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caZUG9wuT0

Poverty is a scaled problem and requires solutions at scale. As programs scale, however, complexities arise which may not have been considered in the original pilot evaluation. In this talk, Neela focuses on one of those scaling complexities: policy take up and program implementation. What can we systematically understand about these factors? Neela draws not only on the research but also her experience – in the private and social impact sectors to outline what we know, and what we should try and learn in future to make effective altruism even more effective. Neela is the Executive Director of the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE). Previously she was the Founding Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change (CBSC) at Ashoka University, India, a center funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has also consulted with several non-profits including Innovations for Poverty Action, Surgo Ventures, the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, Noora Health and Breakthrough India. Prior to her career in global health and development, Neela spent 15+ years in the private sector, leading teams in sales, brands, consumer insights and strategy in global firms Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo and Accenture. Neela is on the board of The Life You Can Save. Her work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Nature, Apolitical and Behavioral Scientist and she has co-authored a book "Marketplace Dignity" published by Penn Press in June 2024. She has a PhD in Marketing (Consumer Behavior) from the Wharton School, U of Pennsylvania and an MBA from IIM Calcutta, India.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6oR6gX302o

This closing session talk focused on inspiring the summit attendees to take action and make the most of the values drives out of the summit.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJaCcMZ7CZ4

In this session, Cecil and Roberto will discuss the importance of including the Global South in global AI governance and regulation efforts, recognizing that these regions must actively participate in shaping AI protocols to manage risks effectively. Cecil Abungu is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (University of Cambridge). Roberto Tinoco is a Colombian lawyer with experience in the Government Sector and Multilateral and International Organizations, in the areas of Trade, Foreign Relations and Security and Defense. Roberto is currently working at the Observatorio de Riesgos Catastróficos Globales (ORCG) as a Science Diplomat.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beiDQ_BHNLQ

Watch on Youtube

In this session, Buck is discussing how he thinks we should try to align artificial general intelligence (AGI) if we made no more fundamental progress on alignment, and then talks about how he thinks alignment researchers should try to improve this plan and ensure that whatever plans are available are executed competently. Buck is the CTO at Redwood Research, a nonprofit based in Berkeley which does technical alignment research. He spent most of the last year researching mechanistic interpretability and related alignment techniques. He previously worked at MIRI and was a fund manager for the EA Infrastructure Fund.

Alternative proteins hold the potential to move humanity beyond animal agriculture. If successful, this would have substantial benefits, in animal suffering, climate change, public health, food security and more. Yet after the initial wave of excitement in recent plant-based products such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, it’s clear there are significant technical and non-technical challenges to overcome. This 1 hour session is geared towards students and professionals who are interested to learn more, brainstorm together and ultimately have potential career interest to contribute in this space. We divide the session by business and scientific backgrounds, discuss key challenges, then conclude by talking about next steps for career exploration. The session is co-hosted by Lucie from Cellular Agriculture Australia, a non-profit working with multiple stakeholders to to progress the field, and Simon from Better Bite Ventures, an early stage investor in new alt protein startups. Thomas King is a founder, international speaker and future food specialist who has been recognised as one of Australia’s most accomplished young pioneers. For over a decade Thomas has driven food systems, environmental and poverty alleviation initiatives across five continents. He was named Young Australian of the Year VIC in 2015, awarded a Myer Innovation Fellowship in 2019 and on The Australian’s 2022 100 Top Innovators list. MC: Lucas Lewit-Mendes

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB28UJi7_oE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfB50JgOo64

Description:

In this talk Lily will shed light on how the challenges of energy poverty and underdevelopment shape a unique the terrain for climate action in Africa. She will make a case for why Africa should be front and center in the fight against climate change and highlight opportunities for impact and CATF's work in the space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5tg1ghvAfI

We want to help others as much as we can. Knowing how is hard: there are many empirical, normative, and decision-theoretic uncertainties that make it difficult to identify the best paths toward that goal. Should we be focused on sparing children from vitamin deficiencies? Reducing suffering on factory farms? Mitigating the threats associated with AI? Should we split our attention between all three? Something else entirely? Two common answers to these questions are (1) that we ought to set priorities based on what would maximize expected value and (2) that expected value maximization supports prioritizing existential risk mitigation over all else. This presentation introduces a sequence from Rethink Priorities’ Worldview Investigations Team that examines these two claims. We argue that there are reasons to doubt them both—reasons stemming from significant uncertainty about the correct normative theory of ethical decision-making and uncertainty about many of the parameters and assumptions that enter into expected value calculations. We also introduce a tool for comparing the cost-effectiveness of different causes and summarize its implications for decision-making under uncertainty. There is a follow-on workshop (Modeling your own cause prioritization) straight after this talk for those who would like hands-on experience on using the model.

Watch on Youtube

A talk by Scott D. Sagan, the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University The talk is titled nuclear weapons: ethics, law, and the limits of safety in the 21st century

This talk introduces the audience to the philosophical and scientific study of animal consciousness. It explains why understanding animal consciousness is inseparable to the project of animal welfare, and why the current ‘valence-based’ and ‘preference-based’ approach to animal welfare are inadequate. It ends by urging effective altruists concerned about animal welfare to care about fundamental, theoretical research on animal consciousness. Jack Hawke is currently undertaking a research Masters in philosophy at the Australian National University (ANU). Earlier, he completed a graduate program at the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care. Before that, he completed a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) at the ANU. MC: Bec Mayo

Judith is a passionate generalist energized by complex challenges & making the highest possible impact. She has a diverse professional background in project management, team leadership, academic & applied research, and digital communications. At CE, Judith currently creates and executes highly predictive vetting processes to find top talent future charity entrepreneurs for CE’s nonprofit Incubation Program, develops content for CE’s new grantmaking foundations Incubation Program, and gives talks about charity entrepreneurship as a career path. Previously, Judith co-built up the EA charity High Impact Athletes that raised over $300,000 USD for effective charities in its first year, co-managed a social start-up, and conducted research to identify high-impact, cost-effective charity interventions. She also holds a master’s degree in Philosophy and has worked in two bioethics research groups. Judith is a jack of all trades (and master of none 🙂 both at work and in her hobbies – when she is not in hyper-focus mode working, you might find her running forests and mountains, backpacking, playing music, or reading books.

This session will be an interactive introduction to some of the key ideas, concepts, and terminology of artificial intelligence. The aim is to provide a focused and accessible introduction for EAs little or no background in AI, but who would like to be able to understand what all the fuss is about. Topics addressed include machine learning, neural networks, Bayesian methods, reinforcement learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmsq7AIupKQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVB63ktLt10

Lily Ordano is the Director of CATF’s Energy and Climate Innovation Program, Africa. She leads CATF’s effort to address the dual need of expanding affordable energy in Africa and building a global decarbonized energy system. Her work focuses on development-centric energy transitions, utility markets, and technology innovation for low-carbon energy development in Africa. Having lived, studied, and worked on three continents, Lily deeply appreciates the uniqueness of energy challenges across geographies and the all-important role of local context in developing energy systems that are meaningful for people, the economy, and the environment. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Climate Policy Journal, and holds a PhD in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware, United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqi2BJhR_eA

Associate Director of New Program Development and Cost-Effectiveness, Kevin Kelsey, will give us an inside look at Evidence Action's Accelerator - their engine for new program development. The Accelerator develops new programs using a six-stage, decision-focused process designed to scale only the most cost-effective, evidence-based interventions. He'll provide insight into how Evidence Action moves promising new programs through their development pipeline, bringing to scale only those with the potential to cost-effectively reach hundreds of millions of people.

This talk shared about the Taimaka's Project theory of change, outlining their inputs to outcomes and demonstrate how their theory of change improves lives.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npNfScjwc2M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-BCyEPV1Og

Pandemic security aims to safeguard the future of civilisation from exponentially spreading biological threats. In this talk, Kevin will outline two distinct scenarios–"Wildfire" and "Stealth"–by which pandemic-causing pathogens could cause societal collapse. He will then explain the ‘Delay, Detect, Defend’ plan to prevent such pandemics, including the key technological programmes his team oversees to mitigate pandemic risk: a DNA synthesis screening system that prevents malicious actors from synthesizing and releasing pandemic-causing pathogens; a pathogen-agnostic wastewater biosurveillance system for early detection of novel pathogens; AI/bio capability evaluations and technical risk mitigation strategies; and pandemic-proof PPE. Kevin M. Esvelt is an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab, where he leads the Sculpting Evolution Group in advancing biotechnology safely. In 2013, he invented CRISPR-based gene drive, kept it to himself until confident the technology favored defense, then revealed his findings and called for open discussion and safeguards before building the first CRISPR-based gene drive system and demonstrating reversibility in the laboratory. Having focused on mitigating catastrophic biorisks for over a decade, his MIT lab seeks to accelerate beneficial advances while safeguarding biotechnology against mistrust and misuse. Projects include building catalytic platforms for directed evolution, pioneering new ways of developing ecotechnologies with the guidance of local communities, developing early-warning systems to reliably detect any catastrophic biological threat, applying cryptographic methods to enable secure and universal DNA synthesis screening, and advising policymakers on how best to mitigate global catastrophic biorisks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC97FfQiFv4

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) has emerged as the central alignment technique used to finetune state-of-the-art systems such as GPT-4, Claude-2, Bard, and Llama-2. However, RLHF has a number of known problems, and these models have exhibited some troubling alignment failures. How did we get here? What lessons should we learn? And what does it mean for the next generation of AI systems? Stephen is a third year Computer Science Ph.D student at MIT in in the Algorithmic Alignment Group advised by Dylan Hadfield-Menell. Formerly, he has worked with the Harvard Kreiman Lab and the Center for Human-Compatible AI. His main focus is on interpreting, diagnosing, debugging, and auditing deep learning systems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmxpG9b5WuM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_9hexPsbPw

Chelsea and Krystal give a talk on pursuing EA-aligned policy careers in Australia. They go through what's important to consider in your fit for policy work, what EA-aligned policy work looks like day-to-day and across different types of organisations, the current landscape of EA policy organisations, and different routes to impact. Chelsea Liang is a Health Security Policy Researcher at Good Ancestors Policy, a charity that seeks to engage all levels of government and civil society on the biggest challenges of the century. There she has created a bespoke and concrete set of pandemic preparedness policy papers tailored to meet the current Australian legal, bureaucratic, and scientific infrastructure. This work was supported by an Open Philanthropy grant. Krystal is a Co-Founder of Policy Foundry, a policy development unit that provides high-quality policy proposals for advocates on the most important 21st century global challenges. Previously, she worked at the Grattan Institute, economic consultancy HoustonKemp and the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. She is currently an economics honours student at Monash University. MC: Lucas Lewit-Mendes

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXYT-5vHXNE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNrmD18ov6k

How do narratives affect people and cultures? What role do they play in our attempts to do good? What are the risks and pitfalls to avoid when trying to use stories for positive impact? In this talk, Timon shares some of the key insights he gains from exploring the science of narrative impact and persuasion, and what it takes to craft a story that enriches lives. Timon Renzelmann has an engineering background and a recent Master's in Sustainable Energy Engineering. For the last 3-4 years, alongside his academic studies, he explores the science of narrative impact and what it means for positive impact. He also enjoys writing and reading fiction and is a keen tennis player.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO4SioAF-zA

The richest countries in the world are about one hundred times wealthier per person than the poorest countries. How did such immense differences arise, and why do they continue to exist? This talk summarises various proposed solutions to this paradox of economic development, including theories emphasising culture, geography, dependency, and institutions. Drawing upon comparative historical analysis, formal models, and statistical evidence, the talk argues that the quality of political and economic institutions ultimately explains most of the differences in development outcomes between countries. It concludes by considering implications for the effective altruism movement. James Fodor is a PhD student in the Decision, Risk and Financial Sciences Program. He completed graduate studies in physics and economics at the University of Melbourne, and a masters degree in neuroscience at the Australian National University. He has also worked as a research assistant in structural biology at Monash University. Outside of research, James has a keen interest in science, philosophy, and critical thinking. He is passionate about Effective Altruism, including causes such as global poverty and animal welfare.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tA8wkOGJrE

This talk examines whether advanced AIs that perform well in training will be doing so in order to gain power later — a behavior Joe Carlsmith calls "scheming" (also often called "deceptive alignment"). This talk gives an overview of his recent report on the topic, available on arXiv here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.08379. Joe Carlsmith is a senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy, where he focuses on existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence. He also writes independently about various topics in philosophy and futurism, and he has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxUTiGS6BHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0VsAN1SnAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1a4V3sNCds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QlmA9MuwcQ

Hear updates from charities incubated by Ambitious Impact (AIM) working on topics including fundraising for animal welfare work, tobacco policy and maternal health. Learn about the innovative ways to contribute and low-hanging fruit in global health and development and animal welfare. Klau Chmielowska is the co-founder and co-executive director of Lafiya Nigeria, a highly effective charity providing family planning counselling and access to contraception in northern Nigeria. With a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford, Klau combines their expertise in global development with a passion for building scalable and highly impactful poverty interventions. José Mallén has been involved in effective altruism since 2015 and in animal advocacy since the mid-90s. He works at Animal Ask as Global Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator. Animal Ask is a Charity Entrepreneurship incubated, UK-based group that supports organisations with in-depth, cross-comparative research to support decision making towards the most promising opportunities for animals. José is currently focused on helping connect researchers, advocates and funders to build an ever-expanding knowledge base. A generalist, he is interested in animal movement-centric approaches to R&D and in near-term and long-term theories of change. Thom Norman is the co-founder of FarmKind, a new effective giving organisation launched out of the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation program in April 2024. Farmed animal welfare is woefully underfunded, with global resources of less than 30 cents of funding per animal killed in the US alone. FarmKind's mission is to help reduce the funding gaps for some of the best evidenced-effective organisations in the space. Supriya is the co-founder and Executive Director of Ansh. Supriya has worked in multiple roles for non-profits across the UK, the US, and India. During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, she co-founded a helpline that established a supply chain network for medicines, oxygen, and other essential medical services for vulnerable families. She also worked at Suvita, a charity incubated by Charity Entrepreunership, to increase the uptake of routine vaccinations in Bihar and Maharashtra. Supriya holds a Master's in Criminological Research from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor's in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The final talk is from the co-founder of Concentric, a policy NGO launched through the Charity Entrepreneurship-AIM incubation program. Hailing from California, he attended the University of Maryland and created his own degree through the university's most selective academic program. He has experience living and working in the conflict zone of Congo for an all-Congolese NGO, as well as, starting a small business in Goma, Congo. He is passionate about political system reform, especially in the United States

In this talk, Maria addresses why it is crucial for the Effective Altruism community to think beyond the 80,000 Hours Job Board and embrace a variety of career paths to enhance our collective impact. Discover the board’s selection process and learn how to apply these principles to find opportunities in your local context, moving beyond the typical UK, US, and remote listings. Gain practical tips for getting started and learn how to overcome the ""approval stamp"" effect that may restrict your career options. Additionally, we discuss how members of local groups can support each other in searching for diverse career paths. Maria serves as the Community and Event Manager at Effective Altruism Norway. Her extensive involvement with the Norwegian Effective Altruism community includes co-founding both Gi Effektivt and EA Norway. Prior to her current role, Maria was a Job Board Curator and Designer at 80,000 Hours and the Managing Director of Gi Effektivt. Additionally, she has experience as a service designer in both the private and public sectors. Maria holds a degree in Industrial Design Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZyzeg_6_hc

Watch on Youtube

Bring a decision you're grappling with to this interactive decision-making workshop. Spencer is teaching elements of good decision-making and have you apply them to a real decision you need to make. You can download the decision-making worksheet here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oI47...) and follow along with this workshop. Spencer is an entrepreneur and mathematician with a focus on improving human well-being through social science. He's the founder of ClearerThinking.org, which provides more than 70 free tools and training programs related to topics like decision-making and cognitive biases, used by hundreds of thousands of people. He's also the founder of Spark Wave, a startup foundry that creates novel software products from scratch designed to solve problems in the world. Find out more about EA Global conferences at: www.eaglobal.org Learn more about effective altruism at: www.effectivealtruism.org

This session features testimony from Ms. Tanaka Toshiko, Mr. Ogawa Tadayoshi, and other representatives from the Peace Boat's Hibakusha Project. Ms. Tanaka Mr. Ogawa are survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—this session will recount the devastating impacts of nuclear warfare through first-hand accounts, illustrating the importance of ensuring such horrors are never repeated. Ms Tanaka Toshiko was exposed to the atomic bomb while on her way to school, 2.3km from the hypocenter. She covered her face with her right arm at the time without thinking, and therefore suffered burns to her head, right arm and the back left side of her neck. She had a high fever from that night and lost consciousness, but was somehow able to survive. She has travelled to the United States ten times in the past seven years, including on invitation of the “Hibakusha Stories” project in New York, and has given testimony to many people in the US. To celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace in 2020, five U.S. gardens have raked “patterns for peace” into their karesansui (Japanese style garden). The patterns were designed by Tanaka Toshiko. The day the bomb was dropped, Mr. Ogawa Tadayoshi had been evacuated outside of the city, however, he was exposed to radiation when his family returned to Nagasaki one week later to check on their home. He does not have any direct memory of being exposed to the bomb, however he participated in a Peace Boat voyage in 2012 to pass on the testimonies of the atomic bomb survivors to future generations. Mr Ogawa is an amateur photographer, and is active collecting pictures taken every year on August 9 at two minutes past eleven, the time the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Last year, Ogawa collected 200 pictures from Nagasaki and around the world and is aiming to collect 1,000 pictures at the 100th anniversary of the atomic bombing.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXP9OlCR1Ho

Join Kieran Greig from Farmed Animal Funders and Emma Hurst from the Animal Justice Party as they discuss animal advocacy. They intend to talk about a range of topics including recent achievements, the challenges that come with politics, and looking to the mid-to-long-term future of advocacy.

Join the organizers for a brief welcome and a group photo of attendees, followed by a short talk from Ben West. Ben is the Interim Managing Director of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) and he is responsible for overseeing CEA’s work during the transition to new permanent leadership. He will speak on the current state of the EA movement and possible directions for its future.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqwE9RyxxQs&t=4s

Watch on YouTube

In this workshop about online communication (on the EA Forum and elsewhere), we’re brainstorming and developing thoughts on the following questions: What can online communication and discussions achieve? What’s the point? Given the goals we have, what makes discussions or communication more useful? What norms do we want to support to encourage that? Practical tips: What tools can we use? When should we take discussions offline? Etc. And more. Then we’ll spend a bit of time talking about how we can apply this to specific discussions we think are important. Lizka runs the EA Newsletter, the EA Forum Digest, and the non-engineering side of the EA Forum at the Centre for Effective Altruism, and helps with a wide range of other content projects. Find out more about EA Global conferences at: www.eaglobal.org Learn more about effective altruism at: www.effectivealtruism.org

Media coverage of catastrophic risk is going mainstream; our panel of media professionals discuss the ways it's going right vs going wrong, and what actions they are taking to focus the conversation on well-reasoned risk models and effective interventions. On the panel will be Kelsey Piper of Vox Future Perfect, Shakeel Hashim of the AI Safety Communications Centre, and Clara Collier of Asterisk Magazine.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33XDXk6wBgg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8tsAIWru0M

Join Elise Bohan (Future of Humanity Institute) and Michael Aird (Rethink Priorities) as they discuss how to use stories to get people to care about the long-term future. Elise will reflect on her book Future Superhuman and the importance of stories when talking about transhumanism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoOe_t9fXpA

Join representatives from The Life You Can Save, Giving What We Can and Effective Altruism Australia as they discuss the current landscape of effective giving in Australia and abroad, implications for causes and donors, and what it means for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVSJ3A2R7q0

The danger of nuclear weapons is growing: what can we do to address this existential risk? Marianne Hanson Building on her keynote remarks, Marianne Hanson, co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), elaborates on the escalating dangers posed by nuclear weapons and outlines steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks. Marianne Hanson is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland, Australia, where she teaches and researches in the field of international security, focusing on arms control, disarmament, international organisations and international law. Prior to joining the University of Queensland, she was Stipendiary Lecturer in Politics at Magdalen College, Oxford University. Dr Hanson gained her MPhil and Doctoral degrees at Oxford University. She is an Australian member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network. MC: Michael Noetel

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kN4JvFbiE

This talk introduces Ambitious Impact's 5 different programs, as well as other impactful career paths, including - Charity founding, Earning to give, Research, For-profit Entrepreneurship, and more. the talk shared various different traits useful for each pathway, how you can upskill and maximise your chance of success and what each program looks like.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_78fL0sc4hA

Watch on Youtube

A fireside chat with Rose Gottemoeller, the Steven Hazy Lecturer at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and former Deputy Secretary General of NATO. Moderated by Carl Robichaud, the nuclear weapons policy programme officer at Longview Philanthropy, this conversation is exploring the topics of Russia, Ukraine, NATO, and the future of arms control.

Watch on Youtube

A hands-on workshop to help you with your impostor syndrome. In this session, you’ll: - Investigate the potential causes of your impostor syndrome - Experiment with different techniques to eliminate your impostor syndrome - Come up with a practical plan to implement these strategies in your life Find out more about EA Global conferences at: www.eaglobal.org Learn more about effective altruism at: www.effectivealtruism.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwLl1Y_cJo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR-dju32ViI

Brief 8-minute talks about a range of topics. Louise Pfeiffer: The Life You Can Save's new Charity Evaluation Framework Simon Zhang: Thoughts on EA China Outreach: the two-way flow of context

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ERtJeac0Lh4

Description

In the aftermath of COVID-19, how do we prioritise long-term strategies for future pandemics amidst pressing domestic issues? Taking the UK as a focal point, Jasmin Kaur, Director of UK Advocacy at 1Day Sooner, analyses the challenges and policy tools for coordinating domestic and international bodies for policies that improve resilience to biothreats. The talk will explore the intricate interplay between international funders, academia, and policymakers in the context of human challenge trials. This talk is suitable for audience interested in areas such as policymaking, biosecurity and non-profit entrepreneurship.

This session features the CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), Zach Robinson. Zach talks about the principles that he considers core to EA, explains why CEA under his leadership will continue to promote them above and beyond any single or set of cause area(s), and answers questions from the audience. Zach joined as CEA's CEO in February 2024. He also serves as the CEO of CEA's fiscal sponsor, Effective Ventures Foundation USA. Previously, he was Chief of Staff at Open Philanthropy (OP), where he managed communications and grantmaking teams, developed organisation-wide policies to help OP scale, and identified new Global Health and Wellbeing cause areas to increase OP's giving. Prior to his work at OP, he was the director of product and strategy for startup Ivy Research Council (now Veris Insights) and worked as a management consultant at Bain and Company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiPUBkDPyUQ

Join us for a brief welcome and opening talk by Carolin Basilowski (Team Lead for EAGxBerlin), and the EA Germany Directors Sarah Tegeler and Patrick Gruban.

This talk focused on effective altruism and animals, sharing how factory farming is rising in Africa and what can be done to address the problem. It draws from Animal Advocacy Africa's (AAA) recent research with Bryant Research, "Preventing Factory Farming in Africa: Strategic Considerations," and four intervention-specific reports by AAA (which were made available online before the conference).

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuaXslLbrME

This talk explored research findings, such as the 5 Freedoms of Animal Welfare and recent discoveries revealing that many animals are sentient, meaning they "feel" a range of emotions, including fear, happiness, and suffering, similar to humans. The talk emphasized that a cage-free Africa is crucial to ensuring the welfare of animals on the continent.

Watch on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMIWsrS39dI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JXitEGQsE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22TwVKbl08c

Description:

The first exoplanet, a planet outside the Solar System, was discovered almost 30 years ago. Today, astronomers count over 5,000, and keep finding alien worlds on an increasing pace. The detection of a second Earth will become reality by 2030. Earth analogs, particularly those older than our home planet, are a window into our own future. They will allow us, for the first time, to empirically assess the likelihood of civilization-ending catastrophic events, both natural and anthropogenic. In this talk, Ekaterina shows how to safeguard Earth by looking to the stars, and how you can use your career to do so.

Hon Dr. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Assistant Minister for Employment in the Albanese ministry. Leigh holds a PhD from PhD in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. Dr Bidda Jones AM leads the Australian Alliance for Animals' strategy for animal welfare and evidence-based research. A zoologist specialising in animal behaviour and welfare, Bidda previously worked for RSPCA Australia as their Chief Science and Strategy Officer, establishing the organisation’s reputation as a trusted source of animal welfare science over her 25-year tenure. In 2021, Bidda was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant services to animal welfare science and advocacy. Marianne Hanson is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland, Australia, where she teaches and researches in the field of international security, focusing on arms control, disarmament, international organisations and international law. Prior to joining the University of Queensland, she was Stipendiary Lecturer in Politics at Magdalen College, Oxford University. Dr Hanson gained her MPhil and Doctoral degrees at Oxford University. She is an Australian member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network. Greg Sadler is the Secretary of Effective Altruism Australia, helped found EAA: Environment, and is the CEO of Good Ancestors Policy. At Good Ancestors, he works to translate EA ideas and research into policy change at the state and federal levels. Good Ancestors has worked on a range of issues from catastrophic disasters and food security to AI Safety and pandemic prevention. Previously, Greg was a public servant where he held senior positions relating to managing catastrophic risk, counter-terrorism and cyber security.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGrVvtKufmk

Should you be able to order smallpox DNA in the mail? Biosecurity professionals have argued for almost 20 years that synthesis companies should screen orders so that pathogen and toxin sequences are only sent to people with a real scientific use for them. Now, it seems like fears of AI-engineered pandemics may spur governments to make screening mandatory. Tessa will discuss why securing nucleic acid synthesis is a biosecurity priority, methods for identifying concerning synthesis orders, and why it’s so challenging to implement robust screening systems.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-dVdRe3oco

See main posting at: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/sandberg-live/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMIWsrS39dI

Description:

Hear This Idea is a podcast about new thinking in effective altruism, hosted by Fin Moorhouse and Luca Righetti. In this episode, recorded live at EAGxCambridge 2023, they interview Anders Sandberg, who is a researcher, futurist, transhumanist and author. He holds a PhD in computational neuroscience from Stockholm University, and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. His research covers human enhancement, exploratory engineering, and 'grand futures' for humanity. They talk about: - What is exploratory engineering and what is it good for? - Progress on whole brain emulation - Are we near the end of humanity's tech tree? - Is diversity intrinsically valuable in grand futures? - How Anders does research - Virtue ethics for civilisations - Anders' takes on AI risk and whether LLMs are close to general intelligence And much more. Find out more about Hear This Idea and discover more episodes: https://hearthisidea.com/

This will be a panel discussion on nuclear policy, deterrence, inadvertent escalation, entanglement, emerging technologies, and related topics. James Acton holds the Jessica T. Mathews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A physicist by training, Acton is currently writing a book on the nuclear escalation risks of advanced nonnuclear weapons and how to mitigate them. Francesca Giovannini is the Executive Director of the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs. In addition, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she designs and teaches graduate courses on global nuclear policies and emerging technologies. Heather Williams is the director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is also an associate fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Taking a giving pledge could be a high impact way to help others—but there are some important considerations to think through before making a commitment. This session is a balanced exploration about why and why not to pledge, and the relevant factors that might influence your decision. In this talk you'll hear from people who haven't pledged, as well as those who have and learn about their thinking on the topic. We cover insights from Giving What We Can's user research about what motivates people to pledge, as well as why others choose not to pledge. This session is for anyone who gives, or is considering giving, as well as community builders who want to have better conversations about what it means to pledge to give effectively. Grace Adams is the Head of Marketing at Giving What We Can. She has worked in marketing, digital product and customer experience through various roles including as a management consultant. Grace graduated with distinction from an applied bachelor of business with a major in marketing at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She is striving to create a world where all its inhabitants are able to thrive, and thanks everyone who is spending their precious time on earth to do the same. Akhil Bansal is a medical doctor from Australia, who currently works in public health and as a field strategy consultant on antimicrobial resistance for Schmidt Futures. Lizka Vaintrob works on various content-related projects at the Centre for Effective Altruism. Before starting at CEA, she worked in maths education and was a visiting research fellow at Rethink Priorities. Lizka holds a BA from Columbia University with a double major in mathematics and comparative literature.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0iaLUGksPQ

The talk discusses importance, tractability and neglectedness from a market shaping economics perspective, including why socially valuable innovations may be inadequately incentivized by commercial markets. Siddhartha discusses the application of pull mechanisms which reward outputs and outcomes, such as Advance Market Commitments, to pressing global challenges such as climate change and pandemic preparedness. Finally, Siddhartha discusses the analytical issues and other challenges the MSA team is grappling with including the size and design of such mechanisms. Siddhartha Haria is Senior Policy Lead at the UChicago Market Shaping Accelerator (MSA) which is led by Nobel laureate Michael Kremer, Rachel Glennerster and Christopher Snyder. The Market Shaping Accelerator aims to develop instruments that incentivize innovation to tackle pressing global challenges such as climate change and pandemic preparedness. Prior to joining MSA, Siddhartha was an government economist at the UK Department for International Development (DFID)

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YizFeslQbs

Jenna Ong is the co-creator of Insights for Impact, a Youtube channel which works on communicating research insights for positive impact in the form of documentary-style, entertaining and explanatory videos. She was also the co-founder of Effective Altruism Canberra. Wellbeing science has seen rapid development in the last few decades thanks to new data. Researchers in this space are primarily interested in how to reduce suffering and live a good life. Meanwhile the core aim of effective altruism is to reduce suffering and do the most good. Are these two fields talking? Join Jenna for an exploration of measures and models of wellbeing, and current questions that researchers are tackling in this space, towards doing more good for yourself and others!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_LpUDTiGuk

Brief 8-minute talks about a range of topics. Amanda Storm Schuster: Don't forget about fundraising! A career path making a difference David Quarel: A summary of state-of-the-art AI

Brief 8-minute talks about a range of topics. David Quarel: Intro to AI safety James Fodor: AIs versus Humans: Similarities and Differences between Human and Machine Learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPVqYcBihM

In this session, Ryan Ritterson will use examples of his and others’ work at Gryphon to tell stories about how to effectively influence public policy. Based on Gryphon’s data-driven approach, he’ll provide key lessons learned and takeaways for others interested in influencing policy. Along the way, he’ll also talk about two recent Gryphon efforts, including one focused on developing and securing pandemic-proof PPE, and the other on Gryphon’s recent AI safety contributions, which played a key role in informing US policy, including the recent executive order.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ohVtc5Vnps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-_ucImfS4c

This panel brings together three leading researchers to discuss their work on welfare and moral patienthood in non-human minds. The panel focuses on two especially challenging cases: invertebrates and digital minds. Jeff Sebo (NYU) begins with a discussion of ethical and methodological considerations related to extending moral considerability to invertebrates and AI systems; Daniela Waldhorn (Rethink Priorities) discusses the current state of evidence regarding consciousness and sentience in invertebrates; and Patrick Butlin (Oxford) discusses what is currently known about the prospects for artificial sentience in digital systems. Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Animal Studies M.A. Program, Director of the Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program, Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program, and Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection at New York University. He is the author of Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves (2022) and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights (2018) and Food, Animals, and the Environment (2018). He is also a board member at Minding Animals International, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, a senior research fellow at the Legal Priorities Project, and a mentor at Sentient Media. Daniela Waldhorn is Director of Animal Welfare at Rethink Priorities. She has more than 15 years of experience in animal advocacy in Latin America and Europe, and has extensively researched several farmed invertebrate welfare issues. Daniela is also a Ph.D. researcher at the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Barcelona, a board member of the Centre for Animal Ethics, an Associate Professor at Pompeu Fabra University, and a research member of the COMPASS Project at the same university. She also serves as an advisor to the Shrimp Welfare Project and the Aquatic Life Institute. Daniela has an MS in International Development (Jaume I University and University of Valencia) and an MS in Ethics and Politics (University of Barcelona), and you can reach out to her in Spanish, Catalan or English. Patrick Butlin is a philosopher of mind and a researcher at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. Patrick previously worked at the Future of Humanity Institute. Most of Patrick's research is on consciousness and agency in AI. Andreas Mogensen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, which is part of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University. Andreas has worked on a range of different issues in meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. His current research is primarily focused on questions in the philosophy of mind and well-being, with the potential to inform the weights we assign to non-human minds in priority setting.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FQ_tLPbYoY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikx53I77NI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GablQxDqoTQ&list=PLwp9xeoX5p8MbksBvu_R_IOz6kD4H7ytC&index=12

According to one recent estimate, there are one sextillion animals on Earth that may be sentient, most living in the wild. Yet wild animal welfare is neglected by intergovernmental bodies such as the IPCC. This talk discusses the importance and difficulty of developing a framework for evaluating interventions targeted at improving wild animal welfare. It considers how a model recently developed by Rethink Priorities might be used to quantify wild animal welfare and discusses different theories of population value, identifying sources of uncertainty. It ends with a discussion of preventing the spread of wild animal suffering to other planets. Tim Campbell is a philosopher and research fellow at the Institute for Futures Studies (IFFS) in Stockholm and the Mimir Center for Long Term Futures Research. His research focuses on topics in ethics related to population change, personal identity over time, whole brain emulation, and, most recently, wild animal welfare.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6b7XRoaq8Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkVYQQBzyjk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhGrDkPjzME