The effective altruism (E.A.) movement, which began with the premise that philanthropists should do the most good per dollar spent, injected pragmatism into an arena where good intentions can trump rational, effective number crunching. A generation of effective altruists—many schooled in Silicon Valley thought—have since embraced this metric-driven, impartial philosophy and translated their own good intentions into good works.
However, artificial intelligence (AI) exposes a flaw in the movement: a powerful faction of doomsayers. The result is not just misplaced philanthropy but lobbying to create agencies with utterly alarming authority.
