Updates on Community Health Survey Results

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2024·EA Forum·forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/aF6nh4LW6sSbgMLzL/updat...

Authors

David_Moss·Jamie E·Willem Sleegers

Credibility Rating

3/5

Good(3)

Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.

Rating inherited from publication venue: EA Forum

Useful for understanding the sociological and organizational health of the EA community, which overlaps heavily with the AI safety field; relevant to those tracking institutional trust and movement cohesion post-FTX.

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149

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eaforum

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CommunityBuilding effective altruismData on the EA communityEffective Altruism SurveyResearchRethink PrioritiesSurveysCommunity epistemic healthFTX collapse

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Importance: 38/100organizational reportanalysis

Summary

Rethink Priorities presents findings from a December 2023/January 2024 survey tracking EA community wellbeing post-FTX collapse, revealing declining satisfaction scores and growing disengagement. Key concerns include cause prioritization disputes, leadership gaps, diversity issues, and perceived overemphasis on AI/existential risk, with 46% of respondents wanting more community reform.

Key Points

•Community satisfaction declined from 6.99 (post-FTX) to 6.77, with 39% of respondents reporting reduced engagement over the past year.
•41% of respondents perceive a leadership vacuum within EA, and 46% desire more structural change than has occurred.
•Top dissatisfaction drivers: cause prioritization disagreements, leadership failures, diversity/inclusion concerns, and excessive AI/x-risk focus.
•Survey provides longitudinal tracking of EA community health, offering a data-driven view of post-FTX institutional trust erosion.
•Results signal ongoing organizational and cultural challenges for EA as a movement, relevant to AI safety community dynamics.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
EA Institutions' Response to the FTX Collapse	--	53.0

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# Updates on Community Health Survey Results
By David_Moss, Jamie E, Willem Sleegers
Published: 2024-03-20
Summary
=======

*   Satisfaction with the EA community
    *   Reported satisfaction, from 1 (Very dissatisfied) to 10 (Very satisfied), in December 2023/January 2024 was lower than when we last measured it shortly after the FTX crisis at the end of 2022 (6.77 vs. 6.99, respectively). 
    *   However, December 2023/January 2024 satisfaction ratings were higher than what people *recalled* their satisfaction being “shortly after the FTX collapse” (and their recalled level of satisfaction was lower than what we measured their satisfaction as being at the end of 2022).
    *   We think it’s plausible that satisfaction reached a nadir at some point later than December 2022, but may have improved since that point, while still being lower than pre-FTX.
*   Reasons for dissatisfaction with EA:
    *   A number of factors were cited a similar number of times by respondents as *Very important *reasons for dissatisfaction, among those who provided a reason: Cause prioritization (22%), Leadership (20%), Justice, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity (JEID, 19%), Scandals (18%) and excessive Focus on AI / x-risk / longtermism (16%).
    *   Including mentions of *Important* (12%) and *Slightly important* (7%) factors, JEID was the most commonly mentioned factor overall. 
*   Changes in engagement over the last year
    *   39% of respondents reported getting at least slightly less engaged, while 31% reported no change in engagement, and 29% reported increasing engagement.
*   Concrete changes in behavior
    *   31% of respondents reported that they had stopped referring to “EA” while still promoting EA projects or ideas, and 15% that they had *temporarily* stopped promoting EA. Smaller percentages reported other changes such as ceasing to engage with online EA spaces (6.8%), permanently stopping promoting EA ideas or projects (6.3%), stopping attending EA events (5.5%), stopping working on any EA projects (4.3%) and stopping donating (2.5%).
*   Desire for more community change as a result of the FTX collapse
    *   46% of respondents at least somewhat agreed that they would like to see the EA community change more than it already has, as a result of the FTX collapse, while 26% somewhat or strongly disagreed.
*   Trust in EA organizations
    *   Reported trust in key EA organizations (Center for Effective Altruism, Open Philanthropy, and 80,000 Hours) were slightly lower than in our December 2022 post-FTX survey, though the change for 80,000 Hours did not reliably exclude no difference.
*   Perceived leadership vacuum
    *   41% of respondents at least somewhat agreed that ‘EA currently has a vacuum of leadership’, while 22% somewhat or strongly disagreed.

As part of the EA Survey, Rethink Priorities has been tracking community health related metrics, such as satisfaction with the EA community. Since the FTX crisis in 2022, there has been considerable d

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Resource ID: 8c74ccba1ae47ab0 | Stable ID: sid_s409UX7U3O