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"How Well Are University Groups Doing Post-FTX?" (Feb 11, 2024)
blogAuthor
Chris Leong
Credibility Rating
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
A short crowdsourced data-gathering post relevant to understanding how the FTX scandal affected EA ecosystem health, talent pipelines, and the relative rise of AI safety as a distinct community-building focus within university groups.
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21
Comments
4
Forum
eaforum
Forum Tags
CommunityBuilding effective altruismFTX collapseThreadsUniversity groups
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Importance: 22/100blog postcommentary
Summary
A February 2024 EA Forum question post investigating the impact of the FTX collapse on university-based EA community building. Data from the Netherlands shows a decline in EA Intro Fellowship completions (291 in 2022 to 212 in 2023), while organizers report a notable shift in student interest from general EA programs toward AI safety-specific initiatives.
Key Points
- •Netherlands EA university groups saw intro fellowship completions drop ~27% from 2022 to 2023, likely partly attributable to FTX reputational damage.
- •Organizers report far less interest in general EA programs but significantly increased interest in AI safety programs post-FTX.
- •University groups are considered a primary talent pipeline for EA, making post-FTX trends particularly significant for the broader movement.
- •Post-pandemic declines in in-person student engagement complicate attribution of drops solely to the FTX collapse.
- •The data suggests a possible reorientation of EA community building away from broad EA identity toward AI safety framing.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| FTX Collapse: Lessons for EA Funding Resilience | Concept | 78.0 |
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How well are university groups doing post-FTX? — EA Forum This website requires javascript to properly function. Consider activating javascript to get access to all site functionality. Hide table of contents [ Question ] How well are university groups doing post-FTX? by Chris Leong Feb 11 2024 1 min read 2 answers 0 21 Community Building effective altruism FTX collapse Threads University groups Frontpage How well are university groups doing post-FTX? Answers 4 James Herbert I can provide a data point from the Netherlands. In 2022 there we... 3 Joris 🔸 Just sending a quick reply - you might find this interesting! No comments There's been a bunch of discussion by some people about how FTX led to a decline in EA, not just due to a cut in funding, but also through damage to EA's reputation. I'm very curious to understand how this has affected EA community building, in particular, focusing particularly on university community building since this seems to be one of the main pipelines for drawing talent into EA, even more so for people who are willing to shift their careers to maximise their impact. How elite university groups are going is even more relevant since members of these groups due to the talent concentration there. For people organising or involved in these groups: have you noticed much of a decline? I'm asking both in terms of attendance and in terms of recruiting new members. In Sydney, university groups seem to have had it pretty tough, but a large part of that is a decline in student in-person attendance at university post-pandemic. 21 0 0 Reactions 0 0 New Answer New Comment Add answer 2 Answers sorted by Top James Herbert Feb 12, 2024 4 0 0 I can provide a data point from the Netherlands. In 2022 there were approximately 291 uni group intro fellowship completions. In 2023 there were approximately 212. From what I hear from organisers, there is far less interest in EA programmes but a lot of interest in AIS programmes. Add Comment Chris Leong Feb 16 2024 2 0 0 Do the intro fellowship completions only include EA Intro Fellowship, not people doing the AI Safety Fundamentals course? Reply 3 James Herbert Feb 19 2024 Correct. I’m a co-author on a post on AIS coordination in NL which has some relevant AIS numbers (sorry for not linking, I’m on my phone right now). Joris 🔸 Feb 18, 2024 3 0 0 Just sending a quick reply - you might find this interesting! Add Comment More from Chris Leong View more Curated and popular this week Relevant opportunities View more
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