EA Organization Updates: April 2023

By Lizka @ 2023-04-13T18:48 (+41)

These monthly posts originated as the "Updates" section of the EA Newsletter. Organizations submit their own updates, which we edit for clarity.

We’re testing out whether it’s more useful to feature opportunities more heavily. Opportunities and job listings that these organizations highlighted (as well as a couple of other impactful jobs and announcements) are at the top of this post.

You can see previous updates on the "EA Organization Updates (monthly series)" topic page, or in our repository of past newsletters. Notice that there’s also an “org update” tag, where you can find more news and updates that are not part of this consolidated series.

The organization updates are in alphabetical order, from F to Z, 0-A to E.

Opportunities and jobs

Opportunities

Consider also checking opportunities listed on the EA Opportunities Board.

Applications are open for two EA conferences in Europe
- EA Global: London will take place at Tobacco Dock, 19–21 May 2023. Applications are open now. If you were already accepted to EA Global: Bay Area this year, you can register for EAG London now; you don’t need to apply again. Apply by 5 May.
- EAGxWarsaw will take place at POLIN, 9–11 June 2023. Apply by 19 May.
A number of fellowships and programs have open applications
- The SERI ML Alignment Theory Scholars Program (SERI MATS) is accepting applications for its Summer 2023 Cohort. Participants get training and mentorship for work in AI alignment via seminars and independent research with a mentor in Berkeley, CA. It also helps participants connect with alignment researchers and institutions. The program is ideal for those who have an understanding of the AI alignment research landscape and previous experience with technical research. There is generally a stipend. Apply by 7 May.
- The Atlas Fellowship for pre-college students (aged 15-19) offers a $10,000 scholarship and a free, in-person summer program in the San Francisco Bay Area that focuses on topics like forecasting, global poverty, and the future of artificial intelligence. Apply by 30 April.
- A new round of EA Virtual Programs is happening from May 8–July 2, including the 8-week Intro Program, In-Depth Program, and The Precipice Reading Group. This round’s application deadline is 23 April, and people can apply to facilitate here.
- Global Challenges Project has two intensive 3-day workshops that people can express interest in — one in Oxford on 26–29 May, and one in Berkeley on 30 June –3 July. The workshops are for students to think seriously about existential risk, and they’re free to attend with travel support available.

Job listings

Consider also exploring jobs listed on “Job listing (open).”

Fish Welfare Initiative

Welfare Standard Lead/Manager (Part remote, part in India, apply by 23 April)

Founders Pledge

Applied/Senior Researcher, Climate (Remote, US, UK or Europe, $85k - $120k)
Applied Researcher (Remote, US, UK or Europe, up to $95k)

GiveWell

Assorted jobs on their research team (including a new Research Associate position) and content editing team (Remote or Oakland, CA)

Anthropic

Trust and Safety Analyst (Hybrid / San Francisco, $150 - $200k)
Senior Software Security Engineer (Hybrid / San Francisco, $270k - $445k)

Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI)

Talent Management Associate (Oxford, £47,500 - £65,000, apply by 3 May)

Organization Updates

The organization updates are in alphabetical order, from F to Z, 0-A to E.

Faunalytics

Faunalytics’ latest study looks at the level of public support for farmed animal welfare legislation in ten U.S. states. The states were chosen based on stakeholder discussions regarding where legal advocacy is underway or under consideration. The report also outlines overall voter priorities in these states, and provides recommendations for how advocates can incorporate animal welfare messaging to align with these priorities.

Faunalytics has updated their Research Library with articles on topics including using AI to reduce human-animal conflicts and transitioning animal farms to offset carbon emissions. Additionally, Faunalytics Content Director, Karol Orzechowski, wrote a guest blog for Stray Dog Institute on data literacy in the animal protection movement.

Fish Welfare Initiative

FWI is hiring for a new role: Fish Welfare Standard Lead. This role will be tasked with leading FWI’s Welfare Standard department, and with it supervising the research and trials needed to continually improve their welfare standards for helping fish in India. They are also accepting less senior applicants under the designation Fish Welfare Standard Manager. Apply by 16 April.

FWI also recently published the results from their internal culture surveys.

Founders Pledge

Founders Pledge Climate Lead Johannes Ackva appeared on The 80,000 Hours Podcast to talk about FP’s climate research, grantmaking, and broader perspective on climate. Johannes also gave a talk on how EA can meaningfully engage in climate at EAG Bay Area.

FP published a report by Senior Researcher Christian Ruhl on Philanthropy to the Right of Boom, on neglected interventions to avert nuclear war, and is working on new investigations on violence against women and girls, as well as projects looking at the philanthropic landscape in AI and biosecurity and a reconsideration of their estimates of the effects of educational interventions.

GiveWell

GiveWell published a page summarizing its views on the Happier Lives Institute (HLI)'s cost-effectiveness analysis of StrongMinds, an organization that provides group therapy targeted at women with depression. GiveWell did its own analysis of StrongMinds using a subjective well-being framework, and estimates that StrongMinds is about 25% as cost-effective as opportunities it would consider funding, although this is based on several judgment calls.
In response to a critique from HLI, GiveWell has also incorporated a 10% downward adjustment to its cost-effectiveness estimates for deworming programs, and explains its approach here.
GiveWell published a blog post updating its forecast of funds raised over the next few years. GiveWell now projects that it will likely raise somewhere between $400 million and $800 million in 2025, versus the $1 billion projected in 2021. GiveWell expects to continue to be funding-constrained in the next few years — your donations can help fill the gaps.
GiveWell published several research materials, including a page on a $15 million grant to Evidence Action for syphilis screening and treatment in pregnancy; a short note on GiveWell's decision to deprioritize funding the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI); and notes from conversations with One Acre Fund and the Deworm3 research team.

Giving What We Can

Giving What We Can have recently released their internal impact evaluation that covers 2020–2022. This evaluation estimates that their giving multiplier over the period was 30x and that they counterfactually generated $62 million of value for highly effective charities.

Happier Lives Institute

Happier Lives Institute published a shallow investigation on immigration reform as a potential strategy for increasing subjective wellbeing (SWB). This work was commissioned by Founders Pledge. The most promising cost-effective intervention is policy advocacy to increase migration, but they would like to understand the risk and costs of potential backlash.

GiveWell published an assessment of their cost-effective analysis of different interventions in terms of their impact on people’s happiness on the EA Forum. HLI Director, Michael Plant and Research Analyst, Joel Mcguire have written responses on HLI’s website and on the EA Forum. HLI are truly grateful to GiveWell for engaging with their research and for using the WELLBY approach to conduct cost-effectiveness analysis.

The Humane League

Since publishing the Global Manufacturers Report, seven companies have started reporting on their progress to eliminate battery cages for egg-laying hens. This includes a massive victory from Cerealto Siro (ranked last for accountability in the report!). The company has now published a public commitment to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs by 2025.

Legal Priorities Project

The Legal Priorities Project published a post titled “Highlights from LPP’s field-building efforts” with notable takeaways from their summer programs and other events.

The paper “Existential advocacy” by Prof. John Bliss was accepted for publication at the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. The paper reports findings from a qualitative study of the legal advocates working to mitigate existential risk.

Research Affiliate Cecil Abungu was one of 3 respondents invited to speak to UN member states about the Secretary General's Policy Brief “To Think and Act for Future Generations”, which proposes strategies to increase the protection of future generations.

Open Philanthropy

Open Philanthropy launched its AI Worldviews Contest, with prizes of up to $50,000 for essays that change the minds or inform the thinking of a panel of judges regarding existential risk from AI or AGI timelines. The contest deadline is 31 May.

Open Philanthropy was featured in Inside Philanthropy, with a focus on its farm animal welfare and biosecurity & pandemic preparedness programs.

Rethink Priorities (RP)

To further strengthen its governance and operations, RP is currently interviewing new potential board members and recently hired several additional operations staff members: Ashley Zebro (Events and Office Coordinator), Hannah Tookey (Development Coordinator), Henri Thunberg (Development Officer), Sarina Wong (Communications Strategist), Matthew Fargo (Special Projects Manager), and Lara La Barbera (Special Projects Associate). The former head of Special Projects, Carolyn Footitt, has been promoted to RP’s Chief of Staff to the COO.
Executive Research Assistant Zoe Williams compiled a (relatively) concise yet (surprisingly) comprehensive 17-minute summary covering seven months of public discussion regarding AI safety.
Senior Research Manager Michael Aird and Collaborator Max Räuker surveyed people they consider knowledgeable about longtermism-aligned AI governance to help increase strategic clarity and improve the prioritization of theories and intermediate goals.
The Global Health and Development team published a new post providing an inside look at their research process in the hope of making their work as transparent as possible. Since late 2021, the interdisciplinary team has completed 25 reports (23 commissioned). RP has already shared four of these reports and plans to publish an additional 13 this year.
Researcher Holly Elmore released her second installment in the Rodenticide Reduction sequence. This post explores the reasons why rodenticides are used, under what circumstances they could be replaced, and whether they are replaceable with currently available alternatives.
In case you missed it: watch Senior Research Manager Bob Fischer’s talk on the Moral Weight Project at EAG Bay Area and Co-CEOs Marcus Davis and Peter Wildeford’s closing talk at the conference. Marcus and Peter shared how they met and founded (and scaled) Rethink Priorities and why the organization works on multiple cause areas.

80,000 Hours

This month, 80,000 Hours released articles on organisation-building and longtermism: a call to protect future generations.

On The 80,000 Hours Podcast, Rob Wiblin interviewed:

Luisa Rodriguez joined the podcast team as a host, and released her first two interviews:

On The 80,000 Hours Podcast — Robert Long on why large language models like GPT (probably) aren’t conscious
On 80k After Hours — Luisa and Robert Long on how to make independent research more fun

Anima International

Anima International is organizing another Conference on Animal Rights in Europe (CARE). The international event provides the opportunity to reconnect and network with fellow activists, learn about effective activism, funding opportunities and build a stronger movement for animals. It is once again a hybrid event, taking place 17–20 August in-person in Warsaw and also online via our partner Eventory.

Early bird tickets are now on sale.

Animal Charity Evaluators

In November 2022, Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) held a live Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) event where its research team answered questions about its new charity recommendations and the processes behind ACE's selections. In this post, ACE has rounded up some highlights from the AMA. ACE hopes these questions and answers provide deeper insight into its 2022 charity evaluation and decision-making processes. You can view the full AMA thread here.

Cellular Agriculture Society

On 9 March 2023, the Cellular Agriculture Society (CAS) released Modern Meat, the world’s first textbook on cultivated meat. Modern Meat represents the largest collaboration in the history of cultivated meat, with 100+ authors, 25+ universities & cultivated meat companies, and contributors from 18 countries.

You can learn more at CellAg.org/ModernMeat.

Centre for Effective Altruism

Ben West has been appointed CEA’s Interim Managing Director, following Max Dalton’s decision to transition to an advisory role.

Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER)

CSER researchers contributed to a joint response to the UK’s Future of Compute Review, concluding that it does not address approaches that attempt to ensure that compute is used responsibly or how its usage might be governed, especially in the context of frontier AI development.
Lara Mani and Mike Cassidy contributed to a paper in Nature that used evidence from the 1815 Tambora eruption to investigate the potential of islands to serve as refuges from sunlight blocking catastrophes.
Haydn Belfield wrote a VOX article pushing back on Peter Thiel’s ideological criticisms of the x-risk community.
Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, Shahar Avin, and John Burden gave media responses to the Future of Life’s petition to suspend advanced AI development.
Paul Ingram discussed the implications of Russia pulling out of New START with TRT world news.
CSER published the video of an event to launch their forthcoming book The Era of Global Risk.