Effective altruism is the main force behind the current wave of AI doom cycles in Silicon Valley. This philosophy has moved from the fringes to the mainstream because its supporters are now embedded across the AI industry, including at Anthropic and the newly appointed AI safety watchdog METR.
Effective altruism is a utilitarian approach to charity based on doing the most good for the most people over the longest time. Advocates believe that halting an AI-induced doomsday is critical to saving as many humans as possible. However, this apocalyptic worldview faces a rival perspective from the crosscutting cosmologies of tech titans.