Effective altruism
Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis".[1][2] People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, sometimes called effective altruists,[3] often donate to charities or choose careers with the aim of maximizing positive impact.
Effective altruists emphasize impartiality and the global equal consideration of interests when choosing beneficiaries. Popular cause priorities within effective altruism include global health and development, social and economic inequality, animal welfare, and risks to the survival of humanity over the long-term future.
The movement developed during the 2000s, and the name effective altruism was coined in 2011. Philosophers influential to the movement include Peter Singer, Toby Ord, and William MacAskill. What began as a set of evaluation techniques advocated by a diffuse coalition evolved into an identity.[4] With strong ties to the elite schools in the United States and Britain, effective altruism has become associated with Silicon Valley and the technology industry, forming a tight subculture.[5]
The movement received mainstream attention and criticism with the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX as founder Sam Bankman-Fried was a major funder of effective altruism causes prior to late 2022. Some in the San Francisco Bay Area criticized what they described as a culture of sexual exploitation.
Controversies[edit]
Sam Bankman-Fried[edit]
Sam Bankman-Fried, the eventual founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, had a seminal lunch with philosopher William MacAskill in 2012 while he was an undergraduate at MIT in which MacAskill encouraged him to go earn money and donate it, rather than volunteering his time for causes.[5][135] Bankman-Fried went on to a career in investing and around 2019 became more publicly associated with the effective altruism movement,[136] announcing that his goal was to "donate as much as [he] can".[137] Bankman-Fried founded the FTX Future Fund, which brought on MacAskill as one of its advisers, and which made a $13.9 million grant to the Centre for Effective Altruism where MacAskill holds a board role.[135]
After the collapse of FTX in late 2022, the movement underwent additional public scrutiny.
Bankman-Fried's relationship with effective altruism has been called into question as a public relations strategy,[138][5] while the movement's embrace of him proved damaging to its reputation.[135][139][140][141] Some journalists asked whether the effective altruist movement was "complicit" in FTX's collapse, because it was convenient for leaders to overlook specific warnings about Bankman-Fried's behavior or questionable ethics at the trading firm Alameda.[142][143]
However, several leaders of the effective altruism movement, including William MacAskill and Robert Wiblin, condemned FTX's actions.[144] MacAskill reemphasized that bringing about good consequences does not justify violating rights or sacrificing integrity.[145]
Sexual misconduct accusations[edit]
Critiques arose not only in relation to Bankman-Fried's role and his close association with William MacAskill, but also concerning issues of exclusion and sexual harassment.[5][146][147][148] A 2023 Bloomberg article featured some members of the effective altruism community who alleged that the philosophy masked a culture of predatory behavior.[149] In a 2023 Time magazine article, seven women reported misconduct and controversy in the effective altruism movement. They accused men within the movement, typically in the Bay Area, of using their power to groom younger women for polyamorous sexual relationships.[146] The accusers argued that the majority male demographic and the polyamorous subculture combined to create an environment where sexual misconduct was tolerated, excused or rationalized away.[146] In response to the accusations, the Centre for Effective Altruism told Time that some of the alleged perpetrators had already been banned from the organization and said it would investigate new claims.[146] The organization also argued that it is challenging to discern to what extent sexual misconduct issues were specific to the effective altruism community or reflective of broader societal misogyny.[146]
Other criticism of the movement[edit]
While originally the movement leaders were associated with frugal lifestyles, the arrival of big donors, including Bankman-Fried, led to more spending and opulence, which seemed incongruous to the movement's espoused values.[142] In 2022, Effective Ventures Foundation purchased the estate of Wytham Abbey for the purpose of running workshops.[4]
Timnit Gebru claimed that effective altruism has acted to overrule any other concerns regarding AI ethics (i.e. deepfake porn, algorithmic bias), in the name of either preventing or controlling artificial general intelligence.[150] She and Émile P. Torres further assert that the movement belongs to a network of interconnected movements they've termed TESCREAL, which they contend serves as intellectual justification for wealthy donors to shape humanity's future.[151]
Other prominent people[edit]
Businessman Elon Musk spoke at an effective altruism conference in 2015.[135] He described MacAskill's 2022 book What We Owe the Future as "a close match for my philosophy", but has not officially joined the movement.[135] An article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy argued that the record of Musk's substantive alignment with effective altruism was "choppy",[152] and Bloomberg News noted that his 2021 charitable contributions showed "few obvious signs that effective altruism... impacted Musk's giving."[153]
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has publicly stated he would like to bring the ideas of effective altruism to a broader audience.[4]
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has called effective altruism an "incredibly flawed movement" that shows "very weird emergent behavior".[154] Effective altruist concerns about AI risk were present among the OpenAI board members who fired Altman in November 2023;[154][155] he has been reinstated as CEO and the Board membership has changed.[156][157]