EA is a philosophical movement and intellectual project based on using evidence and reason to determine what actions to take to benefit others as much as possible. Its close relation to utilitarianism, its selection of cause priorities, and association with ethically dubious leaders and donors have led EA to face significant scrutiny from journalists, [ethics researchers](https://www.wired.com/story/effective-altruism-artificial-intelligence-sam-bankman-fried/), and the general public -- particularly after the [spectacular and fraudulent crash of EA acolyte Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency empire FTX](https://decrypt.co/114246/rise-fall-sam-bankman-fried-ftx). ## EA and AI Recently, the Effective Altruism movement seems to have become obsessed with the priority of preventing an apocalypse brought about by the creation of an [[Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)]] that wields its power to exterminate humanity. The class of billionaire donors supporting EA has turned its attention to funding "governance of [[artificial intelligence (AI)]]" as one of its top priorities. Their goal is to "win the AI race" by creating an allegedly benevolent god before other world actors can create a malevolent, devil AI. In this pursuit, they are recklessly throwing concerns about AI ethics to the side while sprinting through the development and release of legitimately harmful and dangerous technologies today, with little to no oversight or guardrails in place should any of their "experimentation" go awry. # People associated with Effective Altruism - [[Elon Musk]] - [[Peter Thiel]] - [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] # Groups associated with Effective Altruism - [[Center for Effective Altruism]] - [[80,000 Hours]]