Early AI predictions from effective altruists and rationalists

In a personal reflection, a user says they befriended effective altruists after their mother’s death and found meaning in donating to Against Malaria and GiveDirectly. They recall initially dismissing those friends’ predictions that AI would mimic PhD-level achievement, reshape education and become the economy’s dominant sector. To explain why they pay attention to effective altruists and rationalists, the author offers an analogy: an irritating hypothetical friend who predicted Trump’s presidency years before it happened.