We will be catching up for a social event on the 17th. All are welcome. Finger food and non-alcoholic drinks are on us. Hope to have lots of us there and chat about what you are doing this summer & this giving season!

We’re excited to invite you to GiveWell’s virtual end of year event. Join us for a unique fireside chat where GiveWell CEO Elie Hassenfeld will lead a discussion with two of their senior researchers, Alex Cohen and Julie Faller.

We will be meeting to discuss Global Health and Animal Welfare. These two cause areas have a lot in common at first sight, but donation and career opportunities look a lot different in the details.

Join us on November 20th for this webinar tackling one of the most pressing global challenges of our time. You’ll hear from Evidence Action’s Safe Water Now program leadership about the urgency of the water crisis, the importance of water treatment to ensure its safety, and the immense opportunity we have to improve the health of millions of people.

Tomorrow, we have Thomas talking about mental health. His presentation will describe what mental health is, the current barriers, challenges and successes in the mental health sector in Aotearoa— and a look into what the future holds.

This Tuesday, Chris Leong will argue for a provocative thesis: that the ML field’s decision to focus on training increasingly intelligent systems was a crucial mistake.

Chris will make the case that refocusing the field around training wisdom provides a potential path forward, and that training wise AI advisors is a particularly promising path within this.

This Tuesday we have Andy Morgan speaking to us about potential risks that might arise at the intersection of AI and biology. Andy is a policy professional whose current work focuses on biotechnology and it's effective regulation.

His talk will cover the potential risks that Large Language Models and biological tools might present, both now and in future, and potential policy options to address there risks.

This week we're joined Aidan Homewood, an independent AI governance researcher. He recently completed the Pivotal Fellowship in London.

What are minimum wages for? And what effects do they really have?

Join us on Tuesday to hear Dean Hyslop, Senior Fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research institute, discuss these questions. Dean will go over the evidence from his 2021 working paper, along with some more recent analysis.

We can’t all agree with each other all of the time. Sometimes disagreements are trivial and can be quickly moved on from or resolved. But often a disagreement is a sign that there’s something important and worth discussing. So what do we do then?

Come along to this interactive session to learn about how to have a good disagreement. You’ll practice disagreeing about important topics in constructive ways, and maybe even change your beliefs about something!

Tonight at 5.30pm, Max will be leading us in the Estimation Game!

The Estimation Game is an online contest that runs once a month. Competitors make back-of-the-envelope estimations and then compare their results with other groups around the world. This month’s theme is "extreme numbers"

This session will be held in room KK204 at Kelburn Campus. We hope to see you there!

Future pandemics are bound to happen, and many could be far worse than COVID. However, there are some people (especially in Effective Altruism) who suggest that a man-made pandemic would be far worse, and even carries a substantial risk of causing human extinction in the next century.

This week Max will talk about the often ignored economics of land ownership, and the once-popular economic theory Georgism.

Join us for a games night, where we spent an hour or two playing whichever games the group decides on (feel free to bring along your favourite game!)

In this interactive session, Max Clarke will discuss with us why we might prioritise existential risks (things that might cause the extinction of humanity, or something equally bad). We will also discuss how this relates to long-termism (the idea that future people matter just as much as present people.

Rowan, Operations Manager of Effective Altruism NZ, will lead a talk and discussion session on the organisation, as well as the global sister organisation Centre for Effective Altruism. After a short discussion time, Rowan will then talk about an evidence-based charity analysis.

Lots of people say that it is important for them to “do good” or “make a difference” in their job.

Join us for a games night, where we spent an hour or two playing whichever games the group decides on (feel free to bring along your favourite game!)

We’re having a planning meeting, to decide what topics or activities we should do over the next couple of months! Everyone welcome

This week we will take part in the May Estimation Game and then a pub catch up! It was a hit last time so let's give it another go.

Mona Oliver is the Campaign Director for Animals Aotearoa, as well as the Public Affairs Manager for Animal Policy International. In this talk, Mona will talk about her experiences, her work in animal welfare, and how Animals Aotearoa works with EA principles.

Mathilde will present to EA Wellington a summary of carbon forestry and how the ETS works, an overview of the voluntary market, and what her company does.

Join us on Tuesday for a games night, where we spent an hour or two playing whichever games the group decides on (feel free to bring along your favourite game!). Ideas so far include Exploding Kittens and Secret Hitler. Some pizza/snacks will be provided for us to share. Hope to see you there!

Associate Professor David Denkenberger is giving a talk on his research on resilience to global catastrophes, which will be a great opportunity to learn from an EA who is a leading researcher in academia.

In Part 2 of our AI safety discussion, Max Clarke will discuss the field of AI safety, including research directions, organisations and his own experience pursuing a career in the field. The talk will motivate the arguments behind AI existential risk, and discuss the various approaches being taken to mitigate it. Max will then discuss the various organizations in the field of AI safety, including those that offer training and funding opportunities for those interested in careers in AI safety.

The recent explosion of progress in the AI field has brought about a lot of excitement about how this technology could benefit humanity, but also great concern about the risks. One such risk is the possibility of creating of power-seeking AI systems with different goals from humanity’s best interests.

This week we will be meeting at Shed 22 for a casual social event.