The group at FTX Future Fund, a philanthropy aimed toward funding tasks “to enhance humanity’s long-term prospects,” together with philosophers William MacAskill and Nick Beckstead, resigned yesterday, following the sudden collapse earlier this week of FTX, the big, influential, and previously-relatively-well-regarded cryptocurrency alternate whose proceeds bankrolled it.
Why FTX collapsed is a sophisticated story that’s nonetheless being advised (I discovered this account useful). However among the many fallout of its collapse and the monetary loss to its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (reportedly he misplaced round 95% of his wealth), is the risk to tasks supported by the Future Fund. These embody some philosophy tasks, primarily on subjects associated to synthetic intelligence, efficient altruism, and humanity’s longterm prospects.
In a letter saying their resignation, MacAskill, Beckstead, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Avital Balwit, and Ketan Ramakrishnan write that they “at the moment are unable to carry out our work or course of grants… We’re devastated to say that it seems like there are numerous dedicated grants that the Future Fund will likely be unable to honor… We’re not employed by the Future Fund, however in our private capacities, we’re exploring methods to assist with this terrible state of affairs.”
Right here’s the complete letter:
FTX has now filed for bankruptcy.
UPDATE (11/11/22): William MacAskill displays on these latest occasions here.
Disclosure: The Middle for AI Security, a mission funded by FTX Future Fund, marketed earlier this 12 months on Every day Nous.
Associated: “The Philosopher Advising Billionaires on Philanthropy“, “Change Their Minds, Win Money”
