EA Powers Silicon Valley's AI Doom Cycle — SkimNews
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- Effective altruism (EA) is identified as the driving force behind the latest AI "doom cycle" in Silicon Valley, a shift from a philosophy that had "lurked around the fringes for years."
- EA adherents are now embedded across the AI industry — the piece specifically cites Anthropic — as the stated mechanism by which the philosophy moved into the mainstream.
- The current Silicon Valley climate is characterized by apocalyptic worldviews, with EA named as the newest philosophical wave shaping AI discourse and direction.
Why it matters: Because EA's adherents are described as embedded *inside* frontier AI labs like Anthropic, the philosophy's risk-focused worldview directly shapes AI safety decisions at the companies building the technology — not just academic debate. The piece frames this as a notable shift in who sets the terms of AI risk.
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