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Holden Karnofsky - Wikipedia
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Useful background reference on a key philanthropic figure whose funding decisions at Open Philanthropy significantly shape the AI safety research landscape; his strategic writings on transformative AI are more directly relevant than this biographical entry.
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Summary
Wikipedia biography of Holden Karnofsky, co-founder of GiveWell and co-CEO of Open Philanthropy, who has become a significant figure in AI safety funding and strategy. Karnofsky has directed substantial philanthropic resources toward AI safety research and has written influential essays on transformative AI and the importance of the current moment in AI development.
Key Points
- •Co-founded GiveWell, a nonprofit focused on effective charitable giving, before shifting focus to broader longtermist causes
- •Serves as co-CEO of Open Philanthropy, which funds major AI safety organizations including Anthropic, ARC, and MIRI
- •Authored influential writing on 'most important century' thesis, arguing we may be living through a pivotal period for humanity's future
- •Has played a key role in directing large-scale philanthropic funding toward existential risk reduction and AI safety research
- •Representative of the effective altruism movement's influence on AI safety funding and prioritization
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Holden Karnofsky - Wikipedia
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American nonprofit executive
Holden Karnofsky Born 1980 or 1981 (age 44–45) Education Harvard University ( BA ) Occupation Nonprofit executive Known for Co-founding GiveWell and Open Philanthropy Spouse
Daniela Amodei   ​ ( m.  2017) ​
Holden G. Karnofsky (born 1980 or 1981 [ 1 ] ) is an American nonprofit executive. Karnofsky co-founded the charity evaluator GiveWell with Elie Hassenfeld in 2007. He co-founded in 2014 the grantmaking organization Open Philanthropy (now called Coefficient Giving ), and was its CEO and later co-CEO until 2023. [ 2 ] He joined Anthropic in 2025. [ 3 ]
Biography
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Education and early career
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Karnofsky attended Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois , and was named a National Merit Scholar . [ 4 ] He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in social studies in 2003. [ 5 ] At Harvard, he was a member of the Harvard Lampoon . [ 6 ] After graduating, he worked at Bridgewater Associates , an investment management fund based in Westport, Connecticut . [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
GiveWell
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At Bridgewater, Karnofsky met his future GiveWell co-founder Elie Hassenfeld . In 2006, Karnofsky and Hassenfeld started a charity club where they and other Bridgewater employees pooled in money and investigated the best charities to donate the money to. [ 9 ] In mid-2007, with donations from their colleagues, Karnofsky and Hassenfeld formed a fund called "The Clear Fund", and quit their jobs to work full time on GiveWell , whose goal was to allocate the money in the Clear Fund to the best charities. [ 9 ]
In June 2012, GiveWell announced a close partnership with Good Ventures , the philanthropic foundation tasked with giving away Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz 's wealth. Good Ventures has been one of GiveWell's main funders since then as well as a major donor to GiveWell-recommended charities. [ 10 ]
Under Karnofsky's leadership, the annual money moved to GiveWell-recommended charities increased from $1.6 million in 2010 [ 11 ] to $110 million in 2015. [ 12 ] Until 2023, he was vice chair of its board of directors. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]
Astroturfing incident
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In December 2007, Karnofsky was discovered posting a question about the organization to MetaFilter using another individual's name, and then posting an answer about GiveWell with his own name but without disclosing his affiliation with GiveWell. [ 15 ] The negative publicity led Karnofsky to resign from the role of executive director, though he was later reinstated. The board cut $5000 from his salary to pay fo
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