Nice work Stanislaus: solid analysis. I think I can accept that priorities have shifted. I think it’s noteworthy though that donations to Givewell increased from $120 million in 2015 to $603 million in 2022, a five-fold increase in resources given to global health. The share of their budget that was directed from Open Philanthropy was about the same (60% and 58% respectively - with a dip in years in between). So the shifting shares were made in the context of growing pie, for what it’s worth. Cite: https://files.givewell.org/files/GiveWell_Metrics_Report_2022.pdf
But to call this a bait and switch is borderline ridiculous. Bait and switch is when the Red Cross takes money during a US hurricane and puts it into their general fund (something that may not bend me out of shape depending upon the details of the process). This is a case where a guy in 2012 made the perfectly sensible suggestion that they promote the least weird aspects of Singerism, rather than the most weird. It’s not like they kept any secrets. Utiltarianism can get weird, but that’s because philosophy is weird, something well known since at least Socrates. Though it’s not as weird as physics. Anyway, I fail to see how anyone has been scammed here. Acknowledging that persuasion occurs in steps seems to me to be an indicator of sobriety and maturity.
Generally speaking, further thought applied to the coming AI tsunami sounds like a really good idea, especially given its surprising progress dating from 2022.
Let’s fool around with the spreadsheet some more. For wider context, I’ll list Open Philanthropy’s top 5 donations in 2023. This is by organization not focus area, which will only get you so far:
| Grant | Organization Name | Focus Area | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helen Keller International — Vitamin A Supplementation (January 2023) | Helen Keller International | GiveWell-Recommended Charities | $67,452,836 |
| Malaria Consortium — Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Programs (2023) | Malaria Consortium | GiveWell-Recommended Charities | $61,443,812 |
| Development Innovation Ventures — Scaling Up Global Health Interventions | Development Innovation Ventures | Global Health & Development | $45,000,000 |
| Gates Philanthropy Partners — Tuberculosis Vaccine Candidate | Gates Philanthropy Partners | Global Health & Development | $40,050,000 |
| Gates Philanthropy Partners — Oral Cholera Vaccine Production | Gates Philanthropy Partners | Global Health & Development | $25,000,000 |
Ok, so there’s still a lot of interest in global health - disappointing given the categorical imperative to fund techbros. 
I’ll list the next 15, striking out the line items that are not hardcore Singerist or techbro approved.
| Grant | Organization Name | Focus Area | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eleanor Crook Foundation | Global Health & Wellbeing | $25,000,000 | |
| RAND Corporation — Biosecurity Policy | RAND Corporation | Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness | $14,000,000 |
| Anima International — General Support | Anima International | Farm Animal Welfare | $13,272,625 |
| Sightsavers | GiveWell-Recommended Charities | $11,195,955 | |
| Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2023) | Centre for Effective Altruism | Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building | $11,000,000 |
| RAND Corporation — Emerging Technology Initiatives | RAND Corporation | Potential Risks from Advanced AI | $10,500,000 |
| Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security — Biosecurity, Global Health Security, and Global Catastrophic Risks (2023) | Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security | Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness | $10,000,000 |
| Institute for Progress — General Support (2023) | Institute for Progress | Innovation Policy | $9,341,660 |
| The Humane League — General Support (2023) | The Humane League | Farm Animal Welfare | $8,300,000 |
| Nuclear Threat Initiative — Biosecurity Program Support (2023) | Nuclear Threat Initiative | Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness | $7,831,500 |
| Epoch — General Support (2023) | Epoch | Potential Risks from Advanced AI | $6,922,565 |
| OpenMined — Software for AI Audits | OpenMined | Potential Risks from Advanced AI | $6,000,000 |
| 80,000 Hours — General Support (May 2023) | 80,000 Hours | Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building | $5,575,238 |
| RAND Corporation — Emerging Technology Fellowships and Research | RAND Corporation | Potential Risks from Advanced AI | $5,500,000 |
| IRD Global | GiveWell-Recommended Charities | $5,399,805 |
The Techbros cast a wide net I guess.
Open Philanthropy supported 387 charities in 2023. I’m not sure how much I want to emphasize their work, given that it mostly reflects the tastes and funding of 2 people, Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook and Asana. I see they stress that they never received any funding from SBF, FTX, the Future Fund, or any of the individuals who worked there. A utilitarian loss, given my preferences for entertainment.
Ok, FWIW I broke down the 2023 grants by focus area: further details by request.
| Issue Area | Amount | Share of 2023 total |
|---|---|---|
| Other Total | 40,918,959 | 6.2% |
| Animal Total | 63,619,252 | 9.6% |
| Existential Total | 200,949,076 | 30.2% |
| Global Health Total | 358,978,059 | 54.0% |
| Total | 664,465,346 | |
| Addenda: AI Risk | 67,194,495 | 10.1% |
So global health still makes up a bare majority of spending. 2023 had a big increase in AI risk expenditure: it’s now up to 10%. I might have mislabeled some of things in “Other”.