Effective Altruism Has a Sam Problem
The movement has moved on from Bankman-Fried, but Altman’s actions raise new questions
Sam Altman
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
At a New York City dive bar on a recent December night, Pitbull blared from the sound system, and a gathering of like-minded young people had passionate debates about morals and the future of humanity. The local community of effective altruists was holding its “end of year celebration.”
It seemed like EAs had little to celebrate. Because for the second time in as many years, a guy named Sam was the subject of an extraordinary tech story and an apparent indictment of the EA philosophy. This time it wasn't crypto criminal Sam Bankman-Fried, but the artificial intelligence industry’s superstar, Sam Altman.