"One of the lessons we learned from studying the history of philanthropy is that basic research can open up whole new areas of science, but it takes a long time to pay off. Philanthropists are well positioned, compared with other actors in society, to invest in work where the benefits are uncertain and far in the future."
"Several years ago, Cari Tuna, who signed the pledge with her husband, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, said at a Giving Pledge gathering that instead of following their passions, she and her husband sought to maximize the amount of good they can do with their philanthropy. She encouraged other donors to do the same. Their Open Philanthropy Project does extensive research before selecting its focus areas, which include unorthodox causes such as farm-animal welfare and existential risks to humanity, as well as more traditional ones like criminal justice and global poverty."
"Nearly everything about the organization comes across as highly rational ... there is that openness to possibilities—from animal welfare to runaway tech—and the ongoing transparent analysis of its own choices that makes the Open Philanthropy Project such a compelling endeavor."
"The Open Philanthropy Project, a research group spun out of GiveWell, is more willing to back ventures with only a small chance of success provided the potential benefits are big enough. An extreme example is its recommendation that donors finance research on the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI). The increasing economic importance of AI, and the fact that it is so poorly understood, have led many altruists to believe it may soon become one of the biggest threats to society."
"In the long run, this may be the most important way that Open Phil stands apart from the crowd. There’s plenty of blather in the social sector about 'learning organizations' and 'risk taking' and 'embracing failure,' but very few foundations publicly share what they learned, take big risks, or account honestly for their failures. Open Phil does all of that, and more. Its devotion to reason and evidence; its commitment to do as much good as possible; and its willingness to report publicly on what works, what doesn’t, and why, are, arguably, unequaled in philanthropy."
"While [the Open Philanthropy Project] describes itself as being in an exploratory process in regard to scientific research, the grants that it's recommended in the past six months offer important hints about its emerging interests. ... On closer examination, [one grant] matches several of the OPP's key stated aims: fund areas that affect lots of people, that may be somewhat neglected in by other funders, and contain a substantial element of fundamental science."