Effective Altruism Explained: Why the Pentagon Is Attacking AI 'Doomers' | Fortune Daily

0:02You know, he said the administration is trying to pin concerns about AI safety and a desire for regulation on this sort of shadowy group of people that, yes, has some odd beliefs to distract from the fact that AI risk is actually becoming a really real and much broader public concern.

0:23Hello from New York. I'm Ellie Austin and this is Fortune Daily. Americanism not effective altruism. That's what the Department of War posted on X earlier this month. But what is effective altruism? It's a great question and I have to say I didn't have a clue until a day or so ago. So turns out it's a philanthropic philosophy pioneered over a decade ago by two Oxford academics and it's about approaching charity like a math problem and figuring out how to save the most lives per dollar. Advocates of EA, as it is known for short, include senior figures at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. Meanwhile, the administration believes that EA is what's standing between America and global AI domination.

1:21Pete Hegseth has been particularly vocal on this subject, calling EA sanctimonious. So Fortune senior AI reporters Emily Fellini and Bea Nolan have been reporting on how a fringe movement of mostly young, highly educated utilitarians became Washington's favorite AI villain. And Bea Nolan is about to join me to explain more. B, hello and thank you so much for joining us from London. So I briefly explained in the intro what effective altruism is but I also explained that I had never heard of this term until two days ago so I think you can probably be more eloquent. Give us a rundown of what this movement is.

2:06So at its simplest effective altruism is a philosophical movement and it's this idea that people should try and use like rational processes to try and do the most good for the most amount of people actually traces back to 2009 and these two oxford uh philosophers they founded this thing called giving what you can and it was a pledge that you would donate like 10 of your charity 10 of your income to charity um the idea was to treat like charity and ethics as like a math problem and you would try and figure out what causes saved the most lives or did the most good per dollar spent unpack that for me so instead of spending it on a charity in the u.s you could send money abroad and perhaps that would save more lives or do more good.

2:50Another big part of this that links to that is this thing called earn to give. So the idea is that you can do more good by making more money, basically pursuing a high career and then giving that income to these really effective charities. In a way, it's an argument for capitalism. Yes, it's very linked to the idea of capitalism. It's also very linked to these like analytical math problems, right? Like most people don't treat ethics like maths in this way. I guess the issue is, is it can lead you to some perhaps immoral places. So if you're trying to do the most good, you could justify a lot of things to get to your outcome.

3:29So the ends justify the means in a lot of places. Give us an example of how it could, because to me on the surface, this sounds like a good move for humankind. Tell us how it could be used immorally or leveraged immorally. I guess it's an older philosophical problem, right? If you could save 100 lives, but you'd have to personally kill one person, would you choose to do that? Technically, EA and utilitarianism, which is that this is based in, would say that the moral thing to do would be to kill that person. Okay, now imagine if that person was your mother. Would you still kill that person to save 100 others?

4:06I mean, most people would say no, and it would be ethically immoral to do that. But EA technically have taken to its extremes would say it was immoral not to do. So you mentioned that EA was born over a decade ago at this point. Why is it finding itself in the headlines now? And why has it become so woven into the debate over AI and safety? Yes, it is a bit of a wormhole, but there is. They've always been concerned with AI. And part of this is because they're obsessed with this thing called long-termism. And these are, when you say they, you mean advocates of EA? Yeah, people who subscribe to the philosophical movement.

4:45They have been really interested in this idea that you need to protect future generations from risk. So they care a lot about things like climate change and things like that. They also were very early adopters of this idea that we've been hearing about a lot, that AI could potentially wipe out humanity. like then stopping that becomes a moral directive right you need to make sure ai is safe and engage in safety research and try and steer ai to be moral in order to stop it to try and stop it trying to murder all of us and who is our typical effective altruist is there a demo that you can paint for us i don't know i think you i wouldn't want to talk everyone who believes in this with the same brush there are lots of different strands of it like some people are genuinely just interested about how they can give to charity and perhaps how they can give to charity more effectively it's really popular in silicon valley um because it takes on ethics with this really analytical mindset so like i said earlier it's like reducing these ethical problems to maths and a lot of people who work in silicon valley and work in computer science like that is the way their brain works.

5:54So they lean more towards that. Yeah, it makes sense. I think I'm right in saying that one of the early advocates was Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the crypto exchange FTX. He is in prison now for fraud. How much does his character, his trajectory, loom over and define the movement at this point in 2026? Honestly, quite a lot. He was one of the earliest adopters. He was also one of the biggest bank rollers. So he was a really good example of this earn to give. So he was like, I'm going to go start this huge crypto exchange program. I'm going to make loads of money and then I'm going to contribute it all back to charity.

6:31But obviously, as we know now, in the course of doing that, he committed a lot of immoral acts to get to that end. And then people who criticize EA use that as a very good example of how the means do not always justify the ends. your sources in the piece suggest that this um heightened anxiety around ea that we're seeing coming out of the administration at the moment is really a proxy fight and that going over ea is actually a way to discredit ai anxiety yesterday at the un president trump described sort of the doomsday ai argument as a hoax do you believe that's true what did your reporting tell you about this theory yeah i mean i think one of my sources put it like this which i thought was a really good way to describe it.

7:18You know, he said the administration is trying to pin concerns about AI safety and a desire for regulation on this sort of shadowy group of people that, yes, has some odd beliefs to distract from the fact that AI risk is actually becoming really real and much broader public concern. So in terms of the administration, they're very keen to keep regulation off the table. So if they can blame the push for regulation and the push for AI safety on a small group of people with outside interests, like that might make sense for them. I mean, that isn't what we're seeing right now in the headlines. I mean, just in the general news agenda, I think it's clear that, you know, Jensen Huang is talking about the need for regulation.

7:58And so I wonder how much that argument is going to hold up in the coming weeks. EA is a movement that some people right now are a bit reticent to be associated with for the exact reasons that you just described. How difficult was it to get people to talk to you for your piece? I mean interestingly not that hard I had a lot of people who worked in AI safety and were researchers on that and had taken money from EA affiliated charities to work on their early research and they really wanted to make the distinction that just being concerned with AI risk does not mean that you're an effective altruist like there there are lots of people who take this very seriously as an academic issue and sort of by virtue of EA being one of the only people funding research like this, they ended up being quite involved with it.

8:45But that doesn't mean that these two things should be lumped together. There's a bit of a tension as I understand it, because on the one hand, everything we've been talking about over the past few weeks on this show and beyond is that these AI companies don't care about our future. They don't care about our safety. But now EA posits that actually there's people working at high levels of anthropic and open AI and deep mind who do really care about the future of humanity. And that's why they've chosen to go into the AI business. I mean, it's interesting. I think one of the criticisms here that might make sense is that EA gets criticised a lot for focusing way too much on these long-term risks that might never actually happen.

9:23So I think you've heard people say, you know, there's a 10 % AI might wipe out humanity. Okay, well, there's a much higher percentage chance that it might be used to spread misinformation. It might be used for mass-scale hacking. And by focusing on these longer, almost sci-fi risks, they get accused of overlooking these more immediate ones, which a lot of the people in the labs, they're very concerned with existential risk. So what actually is the outlook on regulation right now? Has anything actually shifted since Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic a couple of weeks ago and published that very controversial essay post?

10:01I think the main thing is, as I'm sure you've seen, we've all seen, is that the public concern about AI risk has really skyrocketed. And people in Congress have been responding to that. There has been a push from both Republicans and Democrats to get some regulation on the table and control some of this stuff. It doesn't necessarily mean there's going to be this slowdown that people are asking for. But maybe there's a sort of consensus forming that having some rules around this technology, if it is so dangerous, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. You mentioned effective altruism charities a moment or so ago.

10:35If people want to find out more about this, where should they look? What are some of those charities? One of the main ones is Open Philanthropy, and that later became Coefficient Giving. They were founded by, one of them was founded by one of the co-founders of Facebook, interestingly. So they do have deep roots to Silicon Valley. Yeah, you could find, they disclosed their funding and where it goes. So you could look into their disclosures around that. But generally, they have steered a lot of their funding towards addressing these existential risks. So you'll find effective altruists and effective altruist money popping up in lots of places when it comes to AI safety and also AI pro-AI regulation.

11:16Thank you so much for explaining this weird and wonderful world of AI effective altruism to us. Speak soon. Thanks, Ellie.

11:31So that's first lady Melania Trump ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning. And the exchange is serving as the backdrop for her newly launched initiative, which was announced last night. And it's being framed as, quote, a Davos for women. So what is it? Well, it's called Imperia. and it is an invite-only network for female CEOs and C-suite leaders with the goal of supposedly connecting the people who move capital, who make deals, and who shape policy. Here at Fortune, I lead our Most Powerful Women Summit, which has been going on for almost 30 years now, bringing together women from the most powerful companies globally.

12:20And I'm often asked whether in 2026 we actually still need a business conference with only women in the room. My answer is women currently run around 15 % of Fortune 500 companies. 15. Now, believe it or not, that is actually a record, but it is still a woefully low number. So yes, I believe that until leadership of the world's largest companies inches closer towards parity, we do indeed need to bring female CEOs and other senior leaders together to share insights and to discuss the unique challenges that they still face en route to the corner office. With all of that in mind, I applaud the first lady's intention, even if it is dissonant with her husband's pretty firm rollback of DEI policies across corporate America and also across the military and more.

13:24At this point, additional details on Imperia are thin. So watch this space. It will be interesting to see how it evolves, who gets involved, and whether it actually leads to concrete deal flow, to investment, and to real opportunity for a diverse lineup of female leaders.

13:49Contrary to popular opinion, Gen Z isn't giving up on building wealth. They're just leaning on mom and dad to do it. And parents are feeling guilty about the economy that they're handing over to their kids. Business editor Nick Lichtenberg has the story in Under the Radar. Nick, hello. So on Monday, you went to the release of the US Bank's newly released 2026 wealth report. And it's really fascinating what it showed us about, I think, how Gen Z are thinking about wealth accumulation. There's this common thinking that actually Gen Z don't care about becoming rich. They are out there enjoying real life experiences and big iced coffees for$8 a pop.

14:32Is that true? Is that what this data shows us?

14:35Bea Nolan: No. And so the executives at U.S. Bank, similar to other sources I've talked to at totally different organizations, They've said like Gen Z really is just not that different when you really look under the hood and you ask them what they want and what their aspirations are and what their strategies are. Like the economy is the thing that's different. Gen Z is no different from any other generation in terms of what they want. What do they want? They want to build wealth and they want a good career. And I had a separate report out from Boston Consulting Group saying if you look closely, Gen Z is actually doing better than previous generations did at the same age.

15:11Bea Nolan: But it just doesn't feel that way to almost anyone. By what metrics are they doing better? How do we explain that? In terms of the wealth they've accumulated at a young age. But I think because we feel like iced coffee, for example, is so expensive. Like you could spend$8 on an iced coffee without realizing it. Just things feel so expensive. And so the U.S. bank executive said, I asked them actually, is the bank of mom and dad still a thing? It's kind of a cliche that Gen Z, you know, they move back in after college and they're still relying on the bank of mom and dad. And they said, yeah, that's a real thing that they track.

15:47Bea Nolan: And that it didn't come through in quite these words. But one of the executives said that there's a guilt feeling that parents have about, you know, sorry, we handed this economy that's so expensive over to you guys. And so how does that guilt manifest? What do they give to their children if they're able to? I think it's a lot of general spending money. Like people in their early 20s, they feel less stigma asking for this and parents feel less stigma giving it to them. That's interesting. And the bank of mom and dad is nothing new, obviously. No. So did we millennials not depend on it? What does the data show?

16:23I mean, I feel like if you spoke to my parents, they would say it was also a thing when we were in our 20s.

16:27Bea Nolan: Yeah, I think there's some of that. And millennials, we're known for burning ourselves out and for hustling too much and for being a little workaholic. And Gen Z, we do have lots of different indicators showing that there's a different mentality around boundaries between work and life. And I would say millennials had an unhealthier sense of that. What shot does Gen Z have at home ownership, for instance? So that is the one area that everyone identified as a real problem. Like the average starter home cost is way over 350 ,000. I think it's close to 400 ,000. Across the country? Across the country.

17:05Bea Nolan: And that's the one area where the economy, like viscerally, it feels so unaffordable. We have Gen Z watching. What are the main takeaways from the report on what should they be doing right now with the money they do have available to them to maybe target owning a home within the next decade? Yeah, I would say that some of the executives said Gen Z surprised them with how conservative they actually are. And I asked them if financial nihilism, which we hear about, is a real thing. Which is specking. Financial nihilism is this phrase for Gen Z's love of cryptocurrencies and alternative investments, prediction markets, meme stocks, even Pokemon cards, comic books.

17:45Bea Nolan: Really affluent Gen Zers buying dinosaur bones, we hear about. But I asked, is this really a thing? And the executive said, you know, At the fringes, there's more interest a little bit. But by and large, no, that is not a thing. And Gen Z wants the same thing that any generation wants. And the housing market, we're living longer lives. Invest wisely and conservatively and pay your dues. And you will eventually get your chance to get into the housing market and all the other markets that adults belong to. And maybe give up on the dinosaur bones. Yeah, maybe dinosaur bones, maybe for a very niche group.

18:22Why do you buy a dinosaur bone?

18:23Bea Nolan: You know, they have auctions at Sotheby's for dinosaur bones. Fascinating. Of course, everyone wants the T-Rex, but there's only a little bit of those. A segment for another day, Nick. Thank you. That's it for Fortune Daily. I'm Ellie Austin. Please remember to like, to subscribe, and to let us know in the comments on our YouTube what you thought of today's topic. I'll see you tomorrow.

18:55Thank you.