EAG Talks

Watch on YouTube Tim LeBon explores two common mental health challenges in the effective altruism community: perfectionism and imposter syndrome. Learn about their causes, what keeps them going, and practical CBT tips to overcome them. Tim is a CBT therapist, author, and speaker with a background in philosophy from Oxford. He’s worked widely with effective altruists, appeared on the 80,000 Hours P...

Watch on YouTube This session explores the ambitious global initiative to develop safe and effective vaccines within 100 days of a pandemic threat's identification. Stig Tollefsen from CEPI discusses the strategic innovations required to achieve this mission, including creating vaccine libraries, establishing global clinical trial networks, and expanding manufacturing capabilities. Learn how t...

Watch on YouTube Our global food system drives some of the most urgent challenges of our time — from systematic animal suffering to climate breakdown. Veganism offers a simple, exponentially scalable, and cost-effective solution to these crises. In this talk, Lars Corvinius Olesen and Aimee Alminde argues that veganism deserves a central place within Effective Altruism, not just as a dietary choic...

Watch on YouTube In this talk, Kari and Ulrik from Gi Effektivt and Giv Effektivt explore how evidence and expert analysis can multiply the impact of your donations by 10 or even 100 times. Learn why some charities are far more effective than others, why giving well is a moral responsibility, and how our minds can mislead us when choosing where to give. Discover how to be a generous superhero - by...

Watch on YouTube What does responsible AI governance actually look like on the ground—and how can we influence its future directions? In this talk, Uma Kalkar draws on insights from the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI) to explore global trends shaping the future of AI governance. She explores actionable strategies for those working to ensure AI develops in ways that are safe, inclusive, and...

Watch on YouTube Zach Robinson, CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism, challenges the misconception that EA is populated by "cold, uncaring, spreadsheet-obsessed robots."In this EA Global London 2025 opening talk, he argues that most people in EA are driven BY their feelings—anger about global health gaps, sadness about animal suffering, fear about AI risks—not despite them. The diffe...

Watch on YouTube In an environment where global tensions surge, geopolitical rivalries intensify, and debates over expanding arsenals become ever more heated, the risk emerges that instability—fueled by misperceptions, misinterpretations and communication breakdowns—could inadvertently propel us toward a nuclear confrontation. In this context, a new arms race is underway: one that seeks a strategi...

Watch on YouTube Innovation is the key driver of growth and increases in human wellbeing. Investing in innovation can be extremely cost-effective, because the costs of developing and testing new innovations are relatively low, but they can have huge impacts if scaled up by governments or firms to reach millions of people. Michael Kremer, 2019 economics Nobel Laureate, discusses his experience as a...

Watch on YouTube Leadership transitions are pivotal but inevitable moments in an organization's life cycle that can either strengthen or destabilize it—and how it will go is often decided by actions taken months, if not years in advance. Joey Savoie focuses on how teams facing transitions can preserve organizational integrity while leveraging the energy and opportunities of a change in leaders...

Watch on YouTube Development economist Rachel Glennerster discusses reasons for optimism in global development despite recent aid cuts and declining international cooperation. She explores how innovation drives human progress and examines advanced market commitments as tools for promoting innovation where social and private benefits are misaligned. Glennerster addresses challenges facing the devel...

Watch on YouTube Most people believe forecasting gets systematically harder over longer time periods — that it is hard to see further through the mists of time. But there are many forecasting questions for which the reverse is true. In this talk, Toby Ord shows how this can be, teasing out a variety of different mechanisms which can make prediction about the further future easier. One upshot is th...

Watch on YouTube Saloni Dattani makes the case that data collection isn’t just an academic concern; it’s crucial for policymaking, journalism, and industry, and, in some cases, a matter of life or death. Data collection has changed our understanding of diseases like cholera, tuberculosis and snakebite envenoming; and has been crucial in tracking progress over time and identifying emerging problems...

Watch on YouTube Will MacAskill discusses his recent work on preparing for the intelligence explosion and on focusing on trying to reach near-best futures rather than (merely) trying to prevent catastrophe. Will MacAskill is a Senior Research Fellow at Forethought. He's the author of Doing Good Better and What We Owe The Future, and the cofounder of Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours and the Cen...

Watch on YouTube Saloni Dattani makes the case that data collection isn’t just an academic concern; it’s crucial for policymaking, journalism, and industry, and, in some cases, a matter of life or death. Data collection has changed our understanding of diseases like cholera, tuberculosis and snakebite envenoming; and has been crucial in tracking progress over time and identifying emerging problems...

According to one recent estimate, there are one sextillion animals on Earth that may be sentient, most living in the wild. Yet wild animal welfare is neglected by intergovernmental bodies such as the IPCC. This talk discusses the importance and difficulty of developing a framework for evaluating interventions targeted at improving wild animal welfare. It considers how a model recently developed by...

Darren Margolias, Executive Director of ‪@BeastPhilanthropy‬ , answers questions from EA Forum users, posted here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7QfKaF2bnCbuREJNx/ama-beast-philanthropy-s-darren-margolias/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ylphNrBjWI

How do narratives affect people and cultures? What role do they play in our attempts to do good? What are the risks and pitfalls to avoid when trying to use stories for positive impact? In this talk, Timon shares some of the key insights he gains from exploring the science of narrative impact and persuasion, and what it takes to craft a story that enriches lives. Timon Renzelmann has an engineerin...

AI systems deceiving humans, particularly about their alignment, pose significant challenges for ensuring their safety. Olli Järviniemi talks about his recent research on the deceptive tendencies of language models: will LLMs take deceptive actions without external instruction or pressure to do so? The basic approach is to create a realistic simulation environment and naturally provide opportuniti...

In this talk, Maria addresses why it is crucial for the Effective Altruism community to think beyond the 80,000 Hours Job Board and embrace a variety of career paths to enhance our collective impact. Discover the board’s selection process and learn how to apply these principles to find opportunities in your local context, moving beyond the typical UK, US, and remote listings. Gain practical tips f...

In this talk, Kristian Rönn delves into the compelling notion that humanity’s gravitation towards short-term success and solutions poses a significant threat to our long-term survival and alignment with our deepest values. Dubbing this phenomenon the “Darwinian trap,” Rönn outlines how it underpins many of today’s most pressing issues—from the degradation of our workplaces to the global catastroph...

The Norwegian think tank Civita is currently working to raise the debate on how the aid budget can be best spent, and how the Norwegian aid system should be structured. By highlighting the alternate costs and pushing for more systematic use of evidence, the aid budget can reach further and produce better outcomes. Project team member Maria Bakken talks about why evidence is so important in develop...

How rich are you really? How much good can giving really do? And why would 8,842 people from 100 countries pledge to donate 10% of their income to effective charities? Join Lucas Moore, Head of Global Coordination at Giving What We Can, in exploring these questions and finding out why it is a mistake not to prioritize giving as part of effective altruism, and how effective giving is the key to unl...

This talk shared about the Taimaka's Project theory of change, outlining their inputs to outcomes and demonstrate how their theory of change improves lives. Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npNfScjwc2M

This talk introduced Lafiya Nigeria, a non-profit dedicated to providing women with contraception. It is focused on optimizing cost-effective solutions, making it competitive with GiveWell's top charities in terms of cost-effectiveness. The talk shared about the Lafiya Nigeria model and the lessons that have been learned so far. Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e6p29EmEMU

This panel session brings representatives from three organizations implementing health interventions in Nigeria, sharing more about their interventions, experience, and critical lessons from their operation. Panelists concurred that data-driven decision-making, proper stakeholder engagement, and public-private partnerships are vital for intervention success. They emphasized the importance of conte...