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August 15, 202610 min
“Five Wild Animal Welfare Organizations estimate $3-8M in room for additional funding in 2027” by Rethink Priorities
<p><strong> Summary</strong></p><ol> <li> With new funding potentially entering the effective altruism ecosystem, we wanted to estimate how much more the wild animal welfare (WAW) movement could productively absorb. We asked organizations with a public, dedicated WAW workstream to estimate their own room for more funding (RFMF). Although this does not capture the whole movement, we believe it captures a substantive fraction of it.</li><li> Summed across the five organizations that took part, the estimates point to room for roughly 3.16 million dollars–8.23 million dollars in additional funding in 2027. The lower range reflects claims about how additional funding can bolster their current strategies, while the higher range reflects claims as to how substantially greater funding could be used to pursue more ambitious strategies. However, we give reasons below for why this might be an undercount.</li><li> We briefly discuss the merits of a dedicated WAW fund. This could give prospective large donors a clear donation option and help diversify a movement currently concentrated in scientific field-building.</li></ol>Read full report<p><strong> Why Estimate the RFMF for WAW Organizations?</strong></p><p> There are good reasons to consider directing marginal funding toward WAW. Wild animals outnumber farmed animals by several orders of magnitude. Our understanding of their welfare remains [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:15) Summary</p><p>(01:29) Why Estimate the RFMF for WAW Organizations?</p><p>(04:33) The Result</p><p>(05:27) Scientific Field-Building Remains Important, But WAW Must Diversify</p><p>(06:52) Does WAW Deserve a Fund of its Own?</p> <p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 14th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/HDpwbQjes34gkkgKn/five-wild-animal-welfare-organizations-estimate-usd3-8m-in?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/HDpwbQjes34gkkgKn/five-wild-animal-welfare-organizations-estimate-usd3-8m-in</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>
August 14, 20266 min
“Learning from Agricultural Development to Reshape Animal Welfare Work in Low- and Middle-Income Countries” by Tom Billington
<p> This is a cross-post of the executive summary from The Centre for Animal Life and Farming's first report. See the full report here.</p><p> We will also be hosting a webinar on 25th August 2026 to discuss these findings with the animal welfare movement.</p><p><strong> Executive Summary</strong></p><p data-internal-id="ftnt_ref2">Roughly 80-90% of farmed animals live in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), yet the animal welfare movement has seen fewer milestone victories in these contexts than in High-Income Countries (HICs). The standard advocacy models used in HICs (corporate campaigning, consumer pressure, legislative reform, etc.) rely on infrastructure that is often absent in LMICs, such as formalised supply chains, consolidated corporate buyers, and strong legal enforcement. </p><p> Fortunately, the animal welfare movement is not alone in these challenges. There is a long history of field-based projects in LMICs designed to shift farming practices to improve farmer productivity, sustainability, and well-being. Collectively, this broad category of work is referred to as agricultural development (“agri-dev”). The strategies and lessons generated through this work may offer relevant and useful insights for the development of animal welfare initiatives in LMICs.Authors Karthik and Tom visiting the field office of DVARA, an agri-dev organisation in Maharashtra, India</p><p> To identify more context-driven [...]</p> <p><i>The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 13th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kxxkT7XLptnCnKtsh/learning-from-agricultural-development-to-reshape-animal?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/kxxkT7XLptnCnKtsh/learning-from-agricultural-development-to-reshape-animal</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/ba9e9aa14f480b11f50d9288b3d46e763b283a02e05a1d88d787c4e6b9cff987/szkb0x1jgetphzq8fbnb" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/ba9e9aa14f480b11f50d9288b3d46e763b283a02e05a1d88d787c4e6b9cff987/szkb0x1jgetphzq8fbnb" alt="Four men standing outside an agricultural company office in India." 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>
August 14, 20268 min
“Slot hiring vs bar hiring” by brentonmayer
<p> This is from Same Page, a blog about EA-org-style management I write with Max Dalton of Forethought.</p><p><strong> Defining slot vs. bar hiring</strong></p><p> I’m fairly confident this distinction has been kicking around the effective altruism movement for at least eight years. I didn’t invent it, and I’m not sure who did. Claude and I couldn’t find a public write-up of the idea, so I’ve made one.</p><p> In slot hiring, an organisation decides it has a particular position to fill (or maybe two positions, or more). It runs a hiring round, picks the best candidate it finds, and makes an offer. If that person declines, it makes the offer to the next-best, and so on.</p><p> Most of the world operates in slot hiring, so it's the model most people have internalised for how organisations work.</p><p> In bar hiring, an organisation defines a threshold of fit and hires anyone above it. The strength of the candidate pool determines how many offers are made.</p><p><strong> Thoughts on how to think about slot vs. bar hiring</strong></p><p> An organisation wants to hire up to the point where further recruitment stops being the most valuable use of its resources.</p><p> The choice between bar and slot hiring mostly [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:16) Defining slot vs. bar hiring</p><p>(01:28) Thoughts on how to think about slot vs. bar hiring</p><p>(01:55) When to slot vs. bar hire</p><p>(04:59) Navigating the bar shifting up and down</p><p>(06:52) Always be hiring</p> <p><i>The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 12th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/slot-hiring-vs-bar-hiring?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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/slot-hiring-vs-bar-hiring</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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/pxhibw1f7bwul8eq8mwi" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/pxhibw1f7bwul8eq8mwi" alt="Diagram titled "Slot hiring" showing two slots with green dots and candidates below." 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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/oiryseoajnftlhm6f2j4" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/oiryseoajnftlhm6f2j4" alt="Scatter plot titled "Bar hiring" showing candidates above and below a bar." 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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/k6sw1jlxqhzn501mecot" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/k6sw1jlxqhzn501mecot" alt="Bar graph titled "Town of 1,000" showing marginal value declining by doctors." 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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/yzxqbo0mwqlwcnkclxcd" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/yzxqbo0mwqlwcnkclxcd" alt="Area graph titled "City of 1,000,000" showing marginal value versus number of doctors." 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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/jlajjiwvodgugpwkpohu" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/jlajjiwvodgugpwkpohu" alt="Two lollipop charts titled "How quickly does candidate quality drop off?"" 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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/zh1zbnbcoe62bjpngxbx" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/zh1zbnbcoe62bjpngxbx" alt="Bar graph comparing impact gain from adding one unit to each pillar." 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/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/k4yzath8xif27oyzlpdq" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/wnghgHubZyQC7Jad6/k4yzath8xif27oyzlpdq" alt="Line graph titled "Marketing — value of next marketer" showing declining marginal value." 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>
August 14, 202612 min
“Concrete Generalist Projects in AI Safety (and how to do them)” by Helena Tran, Roman Ross, Harry Waterman, Jesse Gilbert🔸
<p> The AI safety ecosystem is still in need of generalists: people who will go out and solve the tasks that people who feel limited by their job description won’t address. This post will explain how to break into generalist work, then provide an important set of projects that, if completed, could strengthen many crucial parts of the AI safety ecosystem, as well as your own career. </p><p><strong> TL;DR</strong></p><p> If you’re looking for something concrete to do, there are a bunch of good entry points:</p><ul> <li> Find a project: browse SPAR's Generalist Projects, join the Generalist Megastream, look through projects on Mangrove, or browse this fieldbuilding/project spreadsheet and Atlas Computing's Resilience Gap Map.</li><li> Get support: apply to Genstream (deadline August 14), indicate interest in the Generator Residency, or check out MATS's Founding & Fieldbuilding track and Catalyst.</li><li> Get funding: BlueDot Rapid Grants fund projects up to 10 thousand dollars; there are also quick funding opportunities and career-transition grants from Coefficient Giving and BlueDot.</li><li> If you’re a student: join or start a university AI safety group; Pathfinder and the AI Safety Seeding Initiative can help with mentorship and funding.</li></ul><p> The rest of the post has more detail on choosing projects, getting mentorship, and other ways to get involved.</p><p><strong> If you’re a…</strong></p><p> University Student: get heavily involved [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:36) TL;DR</p><p>(01:40) If you're a...</p><p>(03:51) Projects that should get done</p><p>(05:00) SPAR Generalist Projects</p><p>(05:54) Mangrove</p><p>(07:07) Non-project shaped projects</p><p>(08:35) Other Project Lists</p><p>(09:24) Getting Support</p><p>(09:28) Programs</p><p>(10:08) Funding</p><p>(11:02) Advice on getting mentorship</p><p>(12:09) A final note</p> <p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 13th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/3gaKC5xfcQYjuzQ7r/concrete-generalist-projects-in-ai-safety-and-how-to-do-them-2?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/3gaKC5xfcQYjuzQ7r/concrete-generalist-projects-in-ai-safety-and-how-to-do-them-2</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/3gaKC5xfcQYjuzQ7r/a6hib2gbsm285vnpd7c0" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3gaKC5xfcQYjuzQ7r/a6hib2gbsm285vnpd7c0" alt="SPAR Generalist category" 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>
August 14, 202616 min
“A Modest Proposal: Why Vegans Should Start Factory Farms” by moral_mazes
<p> <br> TL;DR: The animal welfare movement has been doing advocacy wrong. If we’re serious about ending factory farming, vegans need to start running factory farms ourselves. I lay out the case below and address common objections.</p><p><strong> The Core Argument</strong></p><p> For decades, the animal welfare movement has operated from the outside: funding investigations, lobbying for regulation, producing documentaries, and encouraging dietary change. The results have been modest at best. Global meat consumption continues to rise.</p><p> I believe we need a fundamentally different approach. The people who care most about animal suffering should be the ones running factory farms.</p><p> Here's why.</p><p><strong> If We Don’t Do It, Someone Worse Will</strong></p><p> Factory farming is going to happen regardless of what we do. The demand exists. The economics are clear. If compassionate, welfare-focused vegans don’t step up to operate these facilities, they’ll be run by people who don’t care about animals at all. By entering the industry ourselves, we ensure that at least some factory farms are operated by people who are genuinely troubled by what they’re doing. This is obviously preferable to a world where all factory farms are run by people who aren’t troubled in the slightest.</p><p><strong> We Need to Be Close [...]</strong></p></br></p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:28) The Core Argument</p><p>(01:00) If We Don't Do It, Someone Worse Will</p><p>(01:37) We Need to Be Close to the Frontier</p><p>(02:28) Responsible Farming Policies</p><p>(03:26) A Seat at the Table</p><p>(04:13) Funding the Mission</p><p>(05:20) Why not just study animals without farming them?</p><p>(06:31) Community Impacts</p><p>(07:24) Addressing Objections</p><p>(07:28) "This is just factory farming with a mission statement."</p><p>(07:53) "Your incentives will shift once you're running the operation."</p><p>(08:19) "External advocacy and regulation would be more effective."</p><p>(09:00) Aren't you providing the industry with moral cover?</p><p>(09:38) What about cognitive biases and groupthink?</p><p>(10:14) You're just enriching yourself with status, influence, and resources while socializing risks</p><p>(11:14) What's your main safety plan?</p><p>(11:49) You're just moving fast and breaking beaks</p><p>(12:03) Aren't you worried the chickens might escape and destroy you and everything you love?</p><p>(12:21) What about a coordinated pause?</p><p>(12:48) What about dialogue with China?</p><p>(12:58) What's it like to have Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon, writers, artists, musicians, teachers, and the general public all broadly opposed to what you're doing?</p><p>(13:30) What would it take to convince you this approach is wrong?</p><p>(13:39) This plan sounds crazy</p><p>(13:48) Our Team</p><p>(14:27) Call to Action</p> <p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 13th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uh3JRsLdgCDtMjwbz/a-modest-proposal-why-vegans-should-start-factory-farms?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/uh3JRsLdgCDtMjwbz/a-modest-proposal-why-vegans-should-start-factory-farms</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>
August 12, 202620 min
“What 27 AI Safety Generalists Are Building This Summer” by Jesse Gilbert🔸, Helena Tran
<p> This summer, 27 residents came to Berkeley for the first cohort of the Generator Residency, a three-month program for AI safety generalists run by Kairos and Constellation.</p><p> Residents receive mentorship from experienced generalists and researchers and are working on projects like running workshops for professionals entering AI safety, building a cross-org talent directory, supporting university AI safety groups, serving as chiefs of staff at new and growing organizations, building tools for model welfare and model spec research, and more. See more about each of their projects below.</p><p><strong> Lateral Workshop</strong></p><p> Seth Lifland and Jacob Brinton</p><p> We're running Lateral Workshop, a fully funded three-day program helping experienced professionals explore transitions into AI safety. Many mid-career and senior professionals have skills the field urgently needs, including organizational leadership, government experience, cybersecurity, communications, law, finance, and operations. Yet entering AI safety can be difficult because the ecosystem is unfamiliar, professional networks are limited, and the financial and reputational risks of changing careers are substantial.</p><p> Held September 11 to 13 in Berkeley, Lateral Workshop will bring together promising professionals and people already working in AI safety through expert talks, small-group discussions, one-on-one conversations, and a community mixer. The program aims to make the field [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:56) Lateral Workshop</p><p>(02:26) Jeff Alstott's Chief of Staff</p><p>(03:04) Forward-deployed AI engineering for AI safety orgs</p><p>(04:17) Improving management in AI safety</p><p>(04:59) Talent Commons</p><p>(06:06) Various projects to support university groups</p><p>(06:45) Longitude DC Intensive</p><p>(07:47) Praxis: a retreat for world-class debaters, past and present</p><p>(08:46) Fellowship improvements</p><p>(09:26) Running Leaf and ecosystem support</p><p>(10:22) More Quality AI Safety Org Founders</p><p>(11:54) Supporting the AI 2040: Plan A launch</p><p>(12:37) Convening Discussions on Frontier AI</p><p>(13:11) Regional Organizers for University Talent Ecosystems</p><p>(14:22) Building the map for AI character and model specs</p><p>(15:56) Convening Team Chief of Staff</p><p>(17:25) Miscellaneous Fieldbuilding</p><p>(19:01) Other residents</p><p>(19:27) Want to do something like this?</p> <p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 12th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gyPcpsgvbANjcaLdF/what-27-ai-safety-generalists-are-building-this-summer?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/gyPcpsgvbANjcaLdF/what-27-ai-safety-generalists-are-building-this-summer</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/gyPcpsgvbANjcaLdF/tywbnsh0lvzrguzqtfks" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/gyPcpsgvbANjcaLdF/tywbnsh0lvzrguzqtfks" alt="Event poster for "Generator Residency," Berkeley, summer 2026." 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>
August 12, 20267 min
“Mental health challenges in the AI safety ecosystem seem like a big problem” by JulianHazell
<p> A tough lesson I learned over the past few years is that it's pretty stressful to work in the “Please Don’t Build the Torment Nexus” ecosystem, especially as it increasingly seems like the world is hell-bent on building the Torment Nexus.</p>This is what it can feel like to be an impact-pursuing person who stumbles into the AI safety field.<p> It's hard to be productive when you’re stressed and anxious. And setting aside productivity, it's also just plain bad if people working on AI safety — My peers! My people! — are feeling distraught.</p><p> Anxiety about AI risk really fucking sucks. If you feel this way, you aren’t alone. I’m right by your side, biting my nails, whitening my knuckles.</p><p> But even besides me, a lot of people seem to feel this way.</p><p><strong> How big of a problem is this?</strong></p><p> Survey data described in Spencer Greenberg's recent 80k episode implies that mental health challenges for people working on AI safety are fairly common:</p><p> Most respondents experienced psychological challenges — the median person reported six different problems.</p><p> More than half (52%) said these challenges at least moderately hurt their effectiveness, while 45% had considered cutting back or leaving.</p><p> The most common [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(01:03) How big of a problem is this?</p><p>(03:06) What is being done about it?</p><p>(04:18) What else should be done about it on the margin?</p> <p><i>The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 11th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ews9xbzjGGfR64oum/mental-health-challenges-in-the-ai-safety-ecosystem-seem?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/ews9xbzjGGfR64oum/mental-health-challenges-in-the-ai-safety-ecosystem-seem</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/ews9xbzjGGfR64oum/qrddti9lqw5skwlwe2rb" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/ews9xbzjGGfR64oum/qrddti9lqw5skwlwe2rb" alt="This is what it can feel like to be an impact-pursuing person who stumbles into the AI safety field." 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>
August 11, 202615 min
“What would make us scale or stop? NOVAH’s pre-commitment before seeing the RCT results” by I.J.J., AlexisAt
<p><strong> TL;DR</strong></p><p> NOVAH (No Violence At Home) was incubated by Charity Entrepreneurship (now Ambitious Impact) in 2024 to test a promising idea: preventing intimate partner violence through edutainment, in our case a serialised radio drama. Over the past two years we have produced and aired two seasons in Rwanda.</p><p> We are currently evaluating our second season through a randomized controlled trial with 2,400 couples in Rwanda in partnership with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). Preliminary results are expected in October 2026. The end-line analysis is run by IPA and our academic partners, not by NOVAH.</p><p> Edutainment to prevent intimate partner violence is promising, but it is still young as a field. We do not want to spend donor money scaling it unless the evidence shows it works at least as well as the strongest existing approaches. The RCT is what will tell us that. Therefore, before seeing those results, we want to make our decision rule public:</p><p> We will scale our programming only if the RCT finds a statistically significant relative reduction of at least 5% in physical or sexual intimate partner violence prevalence. How quickly we proceed will depend on the size and certainty of the effect.</p><p> Our current [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:14) TL;DR</p><p>(02:04) Background on NOVAH's cause area and intervention</p><p>(04:03) How we are evaluating our impact</p><p>(05:54) Our pre-commitment</p><p>(07:10) What happens under each result?</p><p>(07:14) Effect below 5%, or not statistically significant: pause and explore</p><p>(07:47) Effect of 5%-20%: continue as planned</p><p>(08:15) Effect above 20%: accelerate</p><p>(08:33) Why did you choose a 5% reduction?</p><p>(09:37) Is everything driven by this RCT?</p><p>(10:55) Why make this public?</p><p>(11:29) How you can hold us to this</p><p>(12:00) Should more non-profits do this?</p><p>(12:37) Final words</p><p>(13:09) Learn more and get in touch</p><p>(13:41) Appendix</p><p>(13:47) Why do you use IPV-year instead of DALYs in your cost-effectiveness?</p> <p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 11th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Lz42uekYDBmBweq9f/what-would-make-us-scale-or-stop-novah-s-pre-commitment?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/Lz42uekYDBmBweq9f/what-would-make-us-scale-or-stop-novah-s-pre-commitment</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>
August 11, 202612 min
“Closing the LTFF, Spending Down Funds, and a New AI Fund at EA Funds” by calebp
<p> The current Long Term Future Fund (LTFF) fund managers and I have decided to step back from our work on the LTFF. Because we believe LTFF donors trusted the fund managers to ensure that the funds would be used in line with the purposes of their donation, we've decided the right move is to close the fund.</p><p> While LTFF is closing, note that EA Funds has launched a new fund, called the Transformative AI Fund (TAIF), with a large overlap in scope, funding early-stage projects that reduce risks from powerful AI systems, led by Lowe Lundin. It is open for applications and donations now. Some LTFF Fund managers plan to continue part-time grantmaking via the AI Risk Mitigation Fund and Lightcone Commons.</p><p> LTFF fund managers have discussed what to do with the remaining balance of the LTFF. We see our duty to LTFF donors as maximising the expected impact of the money they entrusted to us, within the scope of the fund. Closing a fund involves trade-offs in how to honour that.</p><p> With that in mind, we have decided to transfer the remaining balance to [new fund], structured as follows:</p><p> Up to three-quarters will be distributed under the direct [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(02:04) Why are we moving on from the LTFF?</p><p>(03:06) Situational Awareness and Quickly Reorienting</p><p>(04:51) Competing Opportunities</p><p>(05:18) Institutional Friction</p><p>(06:27) Why Is EA Funds Starting a New Fund Making AI Safety Grants?</p><p>(07:00) What will happen with remaining funds?</p><p>(08:20) Why Lightcone Commons?</p><p>(10:15) Why Support the New CEA AI Focussed Fund?</p><p>(11:04) What do existing LTFF applicants need to do?</p> <p><i>The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 11th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dtZ9wbKWjtvGWDRJx/closing-the-ltff-spending-down-funds-and-a-new-ai-fund-at-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/dtZ9wbKWjtvGWDRJx/closing-the-ltff-spending-down-funds-and-a-new-ai-fund-at-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>
August 11, 202615 min
“The Acuity Problem: Maybe we can’t infer how intensely a being can feel from the number of different intensity levels it can go through” by Jim Buhler
<h3 data-internal-id="Summary">Summary</h3><ul> <li> A lot of scientific evidence has been gestured at to show how wide an organism's welfare range (i.e., the absolute intensity at the end of the affective spectrum) might be. But most (if not all) of this evidence is in fact evidence of evaluative acuity (i.e., how many differentiable gradients of pain and pleasure the spectrum contains). (§2)</li><li> In theory, a cognitively simple organism could feel either nothing or something extreme, and nothing in between. And a complex one could dissociate between trillions of different pain levels between nothing and a pinprick, and never feel anything worse. Acuity and range can be independent. (§1)</li><li> In practice, there may be evolutionary reasons to expect some dependence, but this does not tell us how strong it would be or what the dependence relationship looks like. This is in tension with what many arguments for prioritizing some species over others have implicitly assumed so far—I’m talking about both arguments for prioritizing less numerous cognitively complex beings over many simpler ones, and arguments for the exact opposite. Call this the acuity problem. (§3)</li><li> The consequence is that the ambiguity and indeterminacy of the moral weights we should assign to different species is even [...]</li></ul> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:15) Summary</p><p>(02:06) 1. Acuity vs Range</p><p>(04:00) 2. Purported evidence for cross-species varying degrees of sentience is evidence for varying acuity</p><p>(07:19) 3. How dependent are acuity and range?</p><p>(10:52) 4. The resulting deep uncertainty and its implications</p><p>(14:19) Acknowledgements</p> <p><i>The original text contained 12 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p>
<p><b>First published:</b><br/>
August 10th, 2026 </p>
<p><b>Source:</b><br/>
<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mjGQWSpQgdndPnC5b/the-acuity-problem-maybe-we-can-t-infer-how-intensely-a?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/mjGQWSpQgdndPnC5b/the-acuity-problem-maybe-we-can-t-infer-how-intensely-a</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/144ebbf83a0fcaeb72407026eb41ffc1e471dea320298ce1d6c4775bac01c028/wlehroqpxysfncui7fvg" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/144ebbf83a0fcaeb72407026eb41ffc1e471dea320298ce1d6c4775bac01c028/wlehroqpxysfncui7fvg" alt="A quadrant graph plotting "Hedonic Range" versus "Hedonic Resolution" with colored bars." 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/5e5bce73e7b528198d9c4d71da8dad59d9caecd355c0e606f9332cc2331cd149/hwdgc2by11jjwnsfjwxg" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/5e5bce73e7b528198d9c4d71da8dad59d9caecd355c0e606f9332cc2331cd149/hwdgc2by11jjwnsfjwxg" alt="Cartoon ants comparing "fine" and "not fine" states." 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>
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