A surge in AI-related wealth stemming from anticipated tech IPOs is poised to shower Silicon Valley’s favorite philanthropic movement with tens of billions of dollars, years after it was nearly discredited.
Effective altruism holds that individuals should “earn to give,” focusing on data-backed interventions that perform the most good per dollar, like distributing bed nets and financing cheap eye surgeries, but encompasses causes as diverse as AI safety and shrimp welfare.
Yet the movement is still reckoning with the collapse of its champion, Sam Bankman-Fried — whom it stands accused of enabling — and charges of empowering cult-like structures.
If industrial fortunes produced the first wave of American philanthropy, and internet and software the second, AI is launching the third, a viral essay argued.