Inside the culture clash dominating the AI debate - POLITICO

Effective altruism is increasingly described as a cult. But as the movement’s billionaire adherents pour money into D.C., its obsession with the AI apocalypse is remaking the capital’s tech policy landscape. Illustration by @eoinryanart for POLITICO In a city notorious for its cynicism, few things are quite as unsettling as an interest group that truly believes they’re the good guys. As Washington grapples with the rise of artificial intelligence, a small army of adherents to “effective altruism” has descended on the nation’s capital and is dominating how the White House, Congress and think tanks approach the technology. The Silicon Valley-based movement is backed by tech billionaires and began as a rationalist approach to solving human suffering. But some observers say it has morphed into a cult obsessed with the coming AI doomsday. The most ardent advocates of effective altruism, or EA, believe researchers are only months or years away from building an AI superintelligence able to ou

Effective altruism is increasingly described as a cult. But as the movement’s billionaire adherents pour money into D.C., its obsession with the AI apocalypse is remaking the capital’s tech policy landscape. Illustration by @eoinryanart for POLITICO In a city notorious for its cynicism, few things are quite as unsettling as an interest group that truly believes they’re the good guys. As Washington grapples with the rise of artificial intelligence, a small army of adherents to “effective altruism” has descended on the nation’s capital and is dominating how the White House, Congress and think ta