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Some of the opportunities and job listings we feature in this update have deadlines today (see Operations Associate at Epoch AI and Head of Philanthropy at Givewell).
- You can see previous updates on the "EA Organization Updates (monthly series)" topic page or in our repository of past newsletters. There’s also an “org update” tag, where you can find more news and updates that are not part of this consolidated series.
- These monthly posts originated as the "Updates" section of the monthly EA Newsletter. Organizations submit their own updates, which we edit for clarity.
- If you’d like to share your updates and jobs via this series, please apply here.
Opportunities and Jobs
Opportunities
Consider also checking opportunities listed on the EA Opportunities Board.
- AI Safety, Ethics, and Society Course is a free, self-paced virtual course covering the fundamentals of AI safety, ethics, and societal impact. It’s ideal for those interested in the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies. Apply by May 31st.
- Rethink Wellbeing's CBT Program offers a free, 8-week online cognitive behavioral therapy course tailored for the EA community. The program includes weekly sessions with a trained facilitator and a supportive peer group.
- AI Safety Careers Course India is a free, 8-10-week online course on AI safety for Indian students and professionals. It includes mentorship and potential funding for top participants. Apply by May 19th.
- Safeguarded AI is a new program by ARIA aimed at ensuring AI systems are safe and beneficial. The program is currently seeking proposals for research projects, with applications due by May 28th.
- The American Philosophical Association has created two new prizes of $10,000 each for philosophical research on the ethics of AI. Submissions are due by June 23rd.
- AI Impacts is holding an essay competition on the automation of wisdom and philosophy. The organization will award $25,000 in prizes for essays exploring the potential and implications of automating wisdom and philosophy. The competition is open to all, with no entry fee. Submissions are due by July 14th.
- ML4Good Brasil July 2024 is a week-long machine learning course in Brazil. No prior ML experience is required. Applications are due by May 26th.
- The Supervised Program for Alignment (SPAR) is accepting applications for its Summer 2024 Mentorship Program. Apply to this remote, part-time, volunteer opportunity by May 24th.
- Join the Kickstarting for Good program aimed at transforming the food system. Applications for the Berlin-based, grant-funded program close May 26th.
- Join the Impact Accelerator Program for a 6-week journey to impactful professionalism, fostering connections, and post-program support. The program is ideal for mid-career/senior professionals. Apply by May 23rd.
- The Good Food Institute seeks a Research Fellow to review fermentation bioprocesses for alternative proteins. This remote, US-based, 12-week position offers a $7,200 stipend. Apply by June 3rd.
- EAGxToronto 2024 is Canada's first-ever EAGx conference, to be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Toronto from August 16th-18th. Apply by July 31st. Ticket prices start at £100. Travel support is available.
- Daron Acemoglu explores AI's impact on human agency at the Global Priorities Institute’s Atkinson Memorial Lecture, Oxford or online, on May 16th.
- The Global Priorities Institute’s Parfit Memorial Lecture 2024 features Theron Pummer on the topic “Future Suffering and the Non-Identity Problem.” The event is on June 12th at Oxford or online.
Job Listings
Consider also exploring jobs listed on “Job listing (open).”
Ambitious Impact (Charity Entrepreneurship)
- Talent and Recruitment Manager (London or Remote, £37K–£49K, June 14)
Anthropic
- Research Engineers working on Autonomy (Hybrid in US/UK, $320K–$485K) and Alignment Science (Hybrid in US, $280K–$600K)
- Research Engineers working on Interpretability (Hybrid in US, $280K–$600K, Hybrid in UK, £230K–£455K)
- Research Scientists working on Interpretability (Hybrid in US, $280K–$600K, Hybrid in UK, £230K-–£455K)
- Team Managers working on Interpretability (Remote with US travel, $320K–$485K, London, UK, £265K–£370K)
- Senior Software Security Engineer (Hybrid in US, $320K–$405K)
- Product Manager, Trust and Safety (San Francisco, USD $285K–$345K)
Centre for Effective Altruism
- EA Global Program Lead (Remote, £65.4K–£75.1K / $101.6K–$139K, June 3)
Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI)
- Research Manager (Oxford, UK, £60K–£75K, June 3)
Epoch AI
- Senior Researcher, ML Distributed Systems (Remote, $150K–$180K)
- Researcher, Economics of AI (Remote, $110K–$150K)
- Operations Associate (Remote, $60K–$70K, May 15)
Evidence Action
- Head of Philanthropy (Hybrid in Washington, DC)
Future of Life Foundation (FLF)
GiveWell
- Head of Technology (Remote, $173.5K–$191.4K)
- Head of Philanthropy (Remote, $208K–$229K, May 15)
- Senior Researcher (Remote, $200K–$220.6K)
Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP)
- Director of Research and Strategy (London or Remote, June 3)
- Program Manager for India (Delhi or Remote in India, June 3)
Open Philanthropy
- People Operations Associate — Immigration and Global Workforce (Remote, $112.7K, May 22)
Probably Good
- CEO/Executive Director (Remote)
The Good Food Institute (GFI)
- Data and Systems Analyst (Europe) (Remote in Europe, €45K–€60K, June 3)
- Research Fellow (Remote in US, $7.2K biweekly stipend, June 3)
- Research Grant Program Coordinator (Remote in US, $69K–$72.4K, June 3)
- Scientific Community Coordinator (Remote in Europe, €4.4K-€4.9K per month if based in Germany, May 26)
- Finance & Admin Officer (Remote in UK or Belgium, €2.5K–€3K monthly if based in Belgium / £31.6K–£36K annually if based in UK, May 19)
The Humane League
- Major Gifts Fundraiser (Remote in UK, £35.8K–£39.4K, May 26)
Organization Updates
The organization updates are in alphabetical order, from F to Z, 0-A to E.
Faunalytics
Faunalytics is conducting their annual Community Survey and is requesting feedback from the EA community. The survey is used to evaluate the impact of their research and learn how to improve the resources they provide. The survey should only take 5 minutes to complete, and participants have the option of entering to win a $50 gift card or animal charity donation (drawing one $50 prize for every 100 respondents, up to 6 prizes total).
The organization released the first edition of their Tactics In Practice: The Science Of Social Media Advocacy, a series of blogs where Faunalytics explores the science behind different animal advocacy tactics and how advocates can use them. Faunalytics also added a new blog post, Africa’s Second-Hand Battery Cage Dilemma, to their website.
GiveDirectly
GiveDirectly summarised some research on US poverty in a recent Forum post: How we can improve the U.S. social safety net and save lives. Key points include:
- U.S. poverty is deadlier than many might realize and worse than most wealthy countries.
- The U.S. spends $600B/year on poverty interventions, and many are less effective than they could be because of poor design.
- The work of GiveDirectly U.S. and others aims to improve how government poverty programs are designed and administered, in effect making that $600B/year do more good.
- While a dollar to a U.S. cause has less impact by EA-merits than giving to an international one, we should have a similar debate on the effectiveness of U.S. causes for those already giving domestically.
GiveWell
GiveWell recently published a blog post highlighting a $38.8 million grant to Evidence Action to support the Indian government in providing clean water by setting up in-line chlorination in two states, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The post explains why clean water in India is a top priority, why Evidence Action is partnering with the government to deliver this service, and why GiveWell believes this grant is cost-effective.
GiveWell also published a blog post spotlighting Malengo, an educational migration program that supports students from low-income countries in moving to high-income countries for university. The post shares why GiveWell thinks Malengo’s program could be cost-effective, how filling this specific funding gap might enable Malengo’s program to become more financially sustainable, and what GiveWell hopes to learn next.
Global Priorities Institute
The Global Priorities Institute at Oxford University announced this year's Atkinson and Parfit Memorial Lectures. These lectures aim to encourage research among academics — in economics and philosophy, respectively — on topics related to global priorities research, using evidence and reason to figure out the most effective ways to improve the world.
Daron Acemoglu is giving this year’s Atkinson Memorial Lecture, on"Reclaiming Humanity in the Age of AI", on 16 May, 3.30pm UK time. Theron Pummer is giving this year’s Parfit Memorial Lecture, "Future Suffering and the Non-Identity Problem", on 12 June, 4.30pm UK time. The lectures are open to all. Attend in-person in Oxford (spaces limited) or online.
One for the World
GWWC and OFTW are co-hosting a catered networking event in Brooklyn on Tuesday, July 9th, at the Wandering Barman. Attendance is free and has a cap of 70, so they encourage you to sign up early if you'd like to hang out with other effective givers! Grace Adams, GWWC's Head of Marketing, Savita Deo, OFTW's Organizing Manager, and Emma Cameron, OFTW's Interim Managing Director, will all be in attendance.
Open Philanthropy
Open Philanthropy launched a “Day in the Life” series spotlighting individual team members to offer an inside look into what working at Open Phil is really like. If you’re interested in joining their team, they encourage you to check out open roles.
They also commissioned a report from Stefan Dercon on economic growth as the main driver of poverty reduction. In the report, Dercon highlights a set of overlooked policies that can help boost economic growth in developing countries, as well as key reasons why these policies aren’t always pursued.
Senior Program Officer Jacob Trefethen published a blog post on the value of scientific conferences, even to those who aren’t “insiders” in the field. You can subscribe to Jacob’s blog here.
Rethink Priorities (RP)
The newly launched Vista Institute for AI Policy is accepting applications for their workshop on AI law and policy, which will be held in Washington, DC, from August 2–4. Vista will sponsor the cost of travel and accommodations for participants coming to DC from across the US. The workshop is geared toward current students and recent graduates who are considering careers in AI policy in the US. Applicants who are accepted to the workshop will also be eligible to apply for a Research Fellowship. Applications for the workshop are due by May 31st. Vista is fiscally sponsored by Rethink Priorities.
Rethink Priorities published research into a variety of questions, including:
- Could mosquito bed nets harm humans if they are used as fishing nets?
- What are the potential opportunities for impactful institutional plant-based meal campaigns in the US and Western Europe?
- Do insects feel pain? How might understanding the genes of certain species help us to improve the conditions on farms?
Senior Research Manager Bob Fischer also made “the case for including insects in our animal advocacy” as a guest on the How I Learned to Love Shrimp podcast.
Bill Anderson-Samways conducted the first systemic search for potential case studies relevant to advanced AI regulation in the United States across all federal agencies. His report aims to suggest case studies that researchers or policymakers can further examine.
The Humane League (THL)
THL published their 2023 annual report, which reflects on their most recent global progress toward ending factory farming worldwide. In total, last year THL got commitments from 7 companies that spare 2.5M hens from cages in their supply chain and held 62 companies accountable to commitments to spare 42M hens from cages. The annual report includes other corporate and legislative victories from the last year, as well as their 2023 financials. Read the full report or a more mobile-friendly version.
THL also released their 2024 Eggsposé. This year’s report focuses on major restaurant brands that made a public commitment to phase cruel battery cages out of their supply chains by 2025. While nearly all major restaurant brands in the US made this promise — and dozens have shared great progress on how their transitions are going — others (like Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr.) have gone radio silent.
80,000 Hours
80,000 Hours added a new priority career path to their list of high-impact careers — nuclear weapons safety and security. They also published a blog post about other particularly impactful career paths you might have overlooked.
On the 80,000 Hours Podcast, Luisa interviewed:
- Dean Spears on why babies are born small in Uttar Pradesh, and how to save their lives
- Lewis Bollard on the 7 most promising ways to end factory farming, and whether AI is going to be good or bad for animals
And Rob interviewed:
Ambitious Impact (Charity Entrepreneurship)
Ambitious Impact (CE) has announced nine charities incubated through their last round of the Incubation Program. This is a record number of charities started in one round (previously, the average was five), accompanied by the record funding secured — $1 million — thanks to the AIM Seed Network Funding Circle. The new charities are:
- Centre for Aquaculture Progress, which focuses on farmed fish welfare.
- Notify Health, which improves life-saving vaccine coverage for children through effective and scalable vaccination reminders.
- Learning Alliance, which tackles the foundational learning crisis by bringing evidence-based teaching practices into classrooms.
- Novah, which works towards the reduction of intimate partner violence.
- Access to Medicines Initiative, which addresses contraception stock-outs.
- FarmKind, which aims to close the funding gap for some of the most impactful animal welfare charities.
- Ark Philanthropy, which helps high-net-worth individuals create philanthropic strategies to address global challenges.
- Taimaka, which specializes in acute malnutrition treatment.
- A charity focused on animal welfare (to be announced later this year).
Animal Charity Evaluators
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) have shared changes to their charity evaluation criteria that will apply to this year’s set of charities: Updates to Animal Charity Evaluators' Charity Evaluation Criteria in 2024.