Open Philanthropy
In plain wordsA large American charitable foundation, renamed Coefficient Giving in 2025, that has been the biggest private funder of research on the risks of advanced AI.
A grant-maker backed mainly by Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, through their foundation Good Ventures, that chooses causes by expected impact in the effective altruismeffective altruism, n.: A movement that treats charity like a research problem, comparing causes by how much good each dollar or working hour achieves; many of its members came to rank risks from advanced AI as a top priority. tradition and has been the largest private funder of work on risks from advanced AI. Its grants helped build the fields of AI safetyAI safety, n.: The effort to keep AI from doing serious harm, whether because it pursues aims its makers never intended, is turned to bad uses or simply malfunctions — a concern that grows as systems become more capable. and AI governance, supporting the Center for Human-Compatible AICenter for Human-Compatible AI, prop. n.: Stuart Russell's group at the University of California, Berkeley, which argues that AI should be built to be unsure of what people want and to learn it by watching them., the Alignment Research CenterAlignment Research Center, prop. n.: A small Berkeley nonprofit started by Paul Christiano that searches for mathematical ways to keep future AI systems, even ones far smarter than people, honest and under human control., MilaMila, prop. n.: Montreal's deep-learning hub, where professors and students from several Quebec universities work side by side. It grew from the lab Yoshua Bengio started in 1993 and is among the world's largest academic AI centers. and Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging TechnologyCenter for Security and Emerging Technology, prop. n.: A Georgetown University think tank in Washington, D.C., whose researchers advise the US government on AI and national security, paying special attention to China and to the chip supply chain.; in 2017 it granted $30 million to OpenAIOpenAI, prop. n.: The American company that makes ChatGPT and the GPT models. It began in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab and is now a for-profit company overseen by a nonprofit foundation. and took a seat on its board. Its staff produced influential analyses of transformative AItransformative AI, n.: AI that changes the world as deeply as farming or the Industrial Revolution did. It is defined by its effects on society and the economy, not by how humanlike or clever it is., including the biological anchorsbiological anchors, n.: A way of forecasting when AI could transform the world, by estimating how much computing it would take to match the human brain and when that much computing would be affordable. forecast (2020) and a report on explosive growthexplosive growth, n.: A hypothetical jump in the world economy's growth rate to 30% a year or more, about ten times today's pace, which some economists think AI that replaces human workers could cause. (2021). Critics argue that so much funding from one source has given it outsized influence over the field's agenda and personnel. It also funds global health, biosecurity and animal welfare.
Origin
Grew out of a partnership begun in 2011–2012 between Good Ventures and the charity evaluator GiveWell, co-founded by Holden Karnofsky; it took the name Open Philanthropy Project in 2014 and became an independent organization in 2017, with Alexander Berger later chief executive. It was renamed Coefficient Giving in November 2025 as it expanded its work with other donors.
Usage note
Called Open Philanthropy (often 'Open Phil') in nearly all writing before late 2025; Coefficient Giving is the current name.
Related
- effective altruismeffective altruism, n.: A movement that treats charity like a research problem, comparing causes by how much good each dollar or working hour achieves; many of its members came to rank risks from advanced AI as a top priority.
- AI safetyAI safety, n.: The effort to keep AI from doing serious harm, whether because it pursues aims its makers never intended, is turned to bad uses or simply malfunctions — a concern that grows as systems become more capable.
- transformative AItransformative AI, n.: AI that changes the world as deeply as farming or the Industrial Revolution did. It is defined by its effects on society and the economy, not by how humanlike or clever it is.
- biological anchorsbiological anchors, n.: A way of forecasting when AI could transform the world, by estimating how much computing it would take to match the human brain and when that much computing would be affordable.
- longtermismlongtermism, n.: The belief that we should care a great deal about how things go for humanity thousands or millions of years from now, since far more people may live then than have ever lived.
- Center for Human-Compatible AICenter for Human-Compatible AI, prop. n.: Stuart Russell's group at the University of California, Berkeley, which argues that AI should be built to be unsure of what people want and to learn it by watching them.
Mentioned in
Ajeya CotraAjeya Cotra, prop. n.: An American AI researcher and forecaster whose 'biological anchors' report estimated when transformative AI might arrive, and who argued that standard training could produce deceptive AI., Center for Security and Emerging TechnologyCenter for Security and Emerging Technology, prop. n.: A Georgetown University think tank in Washington, D.C., whose researchers advise the US government on AI and national security, paying special attention to China and to the chip supply chain.