80,000 Hours - Narrations

Organisations with influence, financial power, and advanced technology are targeted by actors seeking to steal or abuse these assets. A career in information security is a promising avenue to support high-impact organisations by protecting against these attacks, which have the potential to disrupt an organisation's mission or even increase existential risk. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:12) Sum...

The US federal government has jurisdiction over the most prominent AI companies in the world — and the people working inside it may have more influence over AI's future than almost anyone else. But government AI policy work is hard to break into, politically constrained, and carries a real risk of doing harm. Learn what it actually takes to build a career in US government AI policy: which roles an...

Explore how careers in biosecurity research, policy, and entrepreneurship can help reduce risks like engineered pandemics. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (02:18) Recommended (02:27) Review status (02:32) Why work on pandemic prevention? (02:37) It could save millions of lives (03:32) It isnt very speculative (04:23) There are many tractable approaches (05:27) It doesnt require working on AI (06:28)...

We all want to find a dream job that’s enjoyable and meaningful, but what does that actually mean? Some people imagine that the answer will come to them in a flash of insight, while others think what matters is that their dream job is easy and well paid. At 80,000 Hours, we’ve reviewed three decades of research into what makes for a satisfying career, drawing on hundreds of studies, and didn’t fin...

What if your job was to think carefully about the long-term future of humanity? Macrostrategy research is one of the most neglected (and potentially most important) career paths focused on tackling the world's most pressing problems. We break down what macrostrategy researchers actually do, why the rise of advanced AI makes their work more urgent than ever, and what it takes to succeed in a field...

The future of AI is difficult to predict. But while AI systems could have substantial positive effects, there's a growing consensus about the dangers of AI. Narrated by the author. --- Outline: (00:00) Risks from power-seeking AI systems (00:16) Introduction (02:08) Summary (03:03) Why are the risks from power-seeking AI a pressing world problem? (04:42) Section 1: Humans will likely build advance...

When most people think about working on AI safety, they picture researchers and policy wonks. But there's a quieter, often overlooked path that may actually have more impact — and it's desperately short of talent. AI safety fieldbuilders are the people who recruit, train, and connect the researchers, policymakers, and communicators who make the whole ecosystem run. Whether you're a seasoned profes...

Winning elections is one of the most direct levers on the world's biggest problems — and the field is more open to talented newcomers than you'd think. We make the case for why impact-driven people are exactly what politics needs more of. You'll find an honest look at the real downsides, the skills and backgrounds that transfer surprisingly well, and concrete next steps to get started. Narrated by...

AGI could rapidly transform the world, posing existential risks to humanity. Here’s why working on AI risks could be the most important use of your career. Narrated by the author. --- Outline: (00:00) How artificial intelligence could create the world’s biggest problems (00:19) Introduction (03:41) So how could advanced AI pose the world’s most pressing problems? (08:31) 1. AI could replace human...

China is a leading country in AI. If you have a background in China you may be able to help ensure its development benefits everyone. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (02:50) Sometimes recommended -- personal fit dependent (03:02) Review status (03:07) Why pursue this path? (03:11) 1. Safely managing the introduction of AI may require unprecedented international coordination. (04:46) 2. Coordination b...

What if the next decade doesn't gradually ease us into an AI future, but catapults us through a century's worth of change in less than ten years? This article explores three interconnected 'explosions' that could unfold once AI becomes capable enough to improve itself, revealing how feedback loops — where progress in one area accelerates progress everywhere else — could transform the pace of civil...

Power is already concentrated today: over 800 million people live on less than $3 a day, the three richest men in the world are worth over $1 trillion, and almost six billion people live in countries without free and fair elections. This is a problem in its own right. There is still substantial distribution of power though: global income inequality is falling, over&nb...

The US government may be the single most important actor for shaping how AI develops. If you want to improve the trajectory of AI and reduce catastrophic risks, you could have an outsized impact by working on US policy. But the US policy ecosystem is huge and confusing. And policy shaping AI is made by specific people in specific places — so where you work matters enormously. Narrated by AI. --- O...

The arrival of AGI could “compress a century of progress in a decade”, forcing humanity to make decisions with higher stakes than we’ve ever seen before — and with less time to get them right. But AI development also presents an opportunity: we could build and deploy AI tools that help us think more clearly, act more wisely, and coordinate more effectively. And if we roll these decision-making too...

Become a founder of an organisation tackling one of the world’s most pressing problems. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (01:32) Recommended (01:41) Review status (01:47) Why might founding a new project be high impact? (04:34) What does it take to succeed? (05:05) A good enough idea (06:10) You need to be able to convince donors (09:20) An idea that really motivates you (10:45) Leadership potential (...

Being an early employee at a startup is similar to being a startup founder, except (i) the impact and financial return are usually lower (ii) the risk is lower and (iii) the personal demands are lower. It's a promising path if you'd like to found a startup, but don't have a good idea and co-founder, or want a less demanding option. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:13) Summary (00:56) Key facts on...

On July 16, 1945, humanity had a disturbing first: scientists tested a technology — nuclear weapons — that could cause the destruction of civilisation. Since the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, humanity hasn’t launched any more nuclear strikes. In part, this is because our institutions developed international norms that, while imperfect, managed to prevent more nuclear attacks. We expect advanc...

The recording may not reflect the most recent changes to this article. --- Outline: (00:32) What are these lists based on? (03:11) Why did you make this page? (04:27) Why don't you list more familiar global issues? (06:08) Isn't it inappropriate to rank different issues? (07:25) Should I just take your word for it that these are the most pressing problems in the world? (08:16) How do you think you...

About half of people are worried they'll lose their job to AI. And they're right to be concerned: AI can now complete real-world coding tasks on GitHub, generate photorealistic video, drive a taxi more safely than humans, and do accurate medical diagnosis. And over the next five years, it's set to continue to improve rapidly. Eventually, mass automation and falling wages are a real possibility. Na...

Advanced AI technology may enable its creators, or others who control it, to attempt and achieve unprecedented societal power grabs. Under certain circumstances, they could use these systems to take control of whole economies, militaries, and governments. This kind of power grab from a single person or small group would pose a major threat to the rest of humanity. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (00:...

New tax data lets us accurately estimate which 11 jobs and industries are the highest paying on average, and for top performers. Narrated by AI. --- Outline: (02:14) List of the highest paying jobs according to tax data (03:51) Which jobs are included in the table? (05:52) How do the highest-earning people make their money? (07:07) Which high-paying jobs are missing? How to make it into the top 1%...

The proliferation of advanced AI systems may lead to the gradual disempowerment of humanity, even if efforts to prevent them from becoming power-seeking or scheming are successful. Humanity may be incentivised to hand over increasing amounts of control to AIs, giving them power over the economy, politics, culture, and more. Over time, humanity's interests may be sidelined and our control over the...

I'm writing a new guide to careers to help artificial general intelligence (AGI) go well. Here's a summary of the bottom lines that'll be in the guide as it stands. Stay tuned to hear our full reasoning and updates as our views evolve. In short: The chance of an AGI-driven technological explosion before 2030 — creating one of the most pivotal periods in history — is high enough to act on. Narrated...

In recent months, the CEOs of leading AI companies have grown increasingly confident about rapid progress: OpenAI’s Sam Altman: Shifted from saying in November “the rate of progress continues” to declaring in January “we are now confident we know how to build AGI” Anthropic’s Dario Amodei: Stated in January “I’m more confident than I’ve ever been that we’re close to powerful capabilities… in the n...

At some point in the 21st century, an unwinnable war may be fought. A modern great power war could see nuclear weapons, bioweapons, autonomous weapons, and other destructive new technologies deployed on an unprecedented scale. It would probably be the most destructive event in history, shattering our world. It could even threaten us with extinction. We’ve come perilously close to just this kind of...