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EnglishWhat is the Effective Altruism Forum?
Updated
The Effective Altruism Forum (EA Forum) is a discussion and research platform for the effective altruism movement, hosted at forum.effectivealtruism.org. It publishes research, discussion, and updates on what the site describes as the world's most pressing problems, including global health and development, animal welfare, AI safety, and biosecurity. It is useful if you want to read or join substantive conversations about how to do the most good with limited resources, whether you are a researcher, a practitioner, or someone new to the ideas.
What the Forum is for
The Forum is not a general social network or a news site. Its purpose is to concentrate discussion around a single question, stated on the homepage as: "How can we do the most good with our resources?" Content is oriented toward analysis, argument, and updates rather than casual chat.
The site's own description frames it as a host for "research, discussion, and updates on the world's most pressing problems." That combination matters: you will find both original research posts and informal discussion of the same topics.
Core topics
The Forum's stated focus areas are:
- Global health and development — interventions and policy aimed at improving wellbeing in low-income regions
- Animal welfare — reducing suffering in animals, including farmed animals
- AI safety — reducing risks from advanced artificial intelligence
- Biosecurity — preventing and responding to biological risks, including pandemics
These are the areas the site names, and they shape which posts get featured and discussed.
What kind of content appears
The homepage and navigation point to several distinct content types:
| Content type | What it is |
|---|---|
| Posts | Longer written pieces, often research or argument |
| Quick takes | Short, informal observations or links |
| Comments | Discussion threaded under posts and quick takes |
| Featured / New & upvoted | Curated and community-ranked posts |
| Podcast | Audio versions or discussions of Forum content |
| Events calendar | Listings of EA-related events |
The "Best of the Forum" and "Selected posts" sections are curated entry points, which is a practical place to start if you do not want to browse everything.
Who uses it
The Forum serves a mixed audience. Researchers and practitioners post findings, project updates, and open questions. Newcomers read and ask questions, often through comments or quick takes. The site also links outward to a People directory, a Groups directory, and an EA Handbook, which suggests it functions partly as a hub for the wider movement rather than an isolated discussion board.
How it relates to effective altruism
The Forum is the discussion layer of the effective altruism movement. The movement's core question — how to do the most good with limited resources — is the same question the Forum is organized around. Topics like AI safety and biosecurity appear here because movement participants treat them as high-stakes, neglected, or tractable problems, not because the Forum covers every global issue.
If you want to understand what effective altruism is debating right now, the Forum's featured and upvoted posts are a reasonable proxy. If you want to participate, reading a few "Best of the Forum" posts before commenting will give you a sense of the expected tone and level of argument.