Preparing for a Flush Future: Work, Giving, and Conduct
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Sam Anschell
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3/5
Good(3)Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.
Rating inherited from publication venue: EA Forum
An EA Forum post reflecting on how individuals in the EA and AI safety community should orient their careers, donations, and behavior given the prospect of near-term transformative abundance, likely driven by advanced AI.
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Building effective altruismEffective givingCareer choiceOpinionEarning to giveEffective altruism funding
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Importance: 30/100commentary
Summary
This EA Forum post explores how individuals should prepare for a potential future of radical material abundance, examining implications for career choices, charitable giving, and personal conduct. It likely addresses how transformative AI or other technologies might reshape economic conditions and what ethical obligations follow from such prosperity.
Key Points
- •Examines how individuals should adapt their work, giving, and behavior in anticipation of a dramatically wealthier future
- •Considers the ethical implications of radical abundance for effective altruism and charitable priorities
- •Explores how transformative technologies like AI may reshape economic conditions and personal decision-making
- •Addresses questions of conduct and responsibility when operating in a high-stakes transitional period
- •Connects near-term personal choices to long-run outcomes in a potentially transformative technological era
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# Preparing for a Flush Future: Work, Giving, and Conduct
By Sam Anschell
Published: 2026-02-02
\[All opinions are my own.\]
Following Jeff Kaufman’s [Front-Load Giving Because of Anthropic Donors](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rRBaP7YbXfZibSn3C/front-load-giving-because-of-anthropic-donors) and Jenn’s [Funding Conversation We Left Unfinished](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vpPee6NgMbPcdsam3/the-funding-conversation-we-left-unfinished), I think there is a real likelihood that impactful causes will receive significantly more funding in the near future. As background on where this new funding could come from:
* Coefficient Giving [announced](https://coefficientgiving.org/research/allocating-175m-to-givewells-recommendations-for-2026/): 
* A recent [NYT piece](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/technology/anthropic-funding-valuation.html#:~:text=Dario%20Amodei%20founded%20Anthropic%20in,with%20knowledge%20of%20the%20matter.) covered rumors of an Anthropic valuation at $350 billion. Many of Anthropic’s cofounders and early employees have pledged to donate significant amounts of their equity, and it seems likely that an outsized share of these donations would go to effective causes.
* A handful of other sources have the potential to grow their giving:
* Founders Pledge has secured [$12.8 billion](https://www.founderspledge.com/support-our-mission) in pledged funding, and significantly scaled the amount it directs.[^bpqnlt7grgr]
* The Gates Foundation has increased its giving following Bill Gates’ [announcement](https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2026/01/historic-annual-budget-to-accelerate-mission#:~:text=Last%20May%2C%20foundation%20Chair%20Bill,at%20the%20end%20of%202045.) to spend down $200 billion by 2045.
* Other aligned funders such as Longview, Macroscopic, the Flourishing Fund, the Navigation Fund, GiveWell, Project Resource Optimization, Schmidt Futures/Renaissance Philanthropy, and the Livelihood Impacts Fund have increased their staffing and dollars directed in recent years.
* The OpenAI Foundation controls a 26% equity stake in the for-profit OpenAI Group PB. This stake is currently [valued at $130 billion](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulocarvao/2025/12/22/as-openai-shifts-to-for-profit-its-foundation-controls-130-billion-who-benefits/), and it’s possible that some of this funding may be directed to effective nonprofits.
Of course, nothing is certain; Anthropic is an illiquid company with quickly-changing valuations, the stock market could always plummet, and we’re living in a time of fast-changing politics. But for a movement that has historically directed [about a billion dollars per year](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/
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