Can I see more examples of videos you've worked on?
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Educate the public about high impact causes
Longer description of your proposed project
Good for Humans will be a YouTube show about high impact causes (from AI risk to animal welfare to global health) aimed at the general public. The tone will be educational but funny and down to earth - How to With John Wilson meets Vox Explainer videos meets the 80,000 Hours podcast.
We are seeking a grant to make three episodes of the show on these topics:
1. AI Risk
2. Antimicrobial Resistance
3. Farmed Animal Welfare
For a given topic, each episode will answer:
- What are the risks if things stay as they are or get worse?
- What are the benefits if things go right?
- What can you do as a regular person to help things go right?
We will co-create every episode with a top subject matter expert. For example, David McKinney co-founder of the Alliance for Reducing Microbial Resistance would work with us on the AMR episode.
Describe why you think you're qualified to work on this
I've been in the field of online learning for 17 years, having been the first content hire at three different ed tech startups that collectively raised over $200 million. I've built classes on everything from logic to leadership to lock picking. And I've become completely obsessed with AI, for better or worse.
I've developed a knack for taking complex material and turning it into engaging and useful educational content. The videos, classes, and adaptive experiences have been used by millions of people across the world, from college students to senior executives. And my partners in this project are world-class creatives, including Boris Khaykin, a comedian and editor at Conde Nast, and AJ Ferrer, a videographer and producer.
As a team we have created several viral videos. Boris has been working recently with Fire (the organization, not the element) and is responsible for this gem you may have seen on TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O67dGv5kIOU
Other ways I can learn about you
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkhurgin/
How much money do you need?
$20,000 for three full episodes (~15 minutes long) of the Good For Humans show
Estimate your probability of succeeding if you get the amount of money you asked for
90% - We have collectively created thousands of high quality educational videos, often on short timelines.
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Alex Khurgin
7 months ago
@Wormhole Hi Dony, here's an article about a viral video we made in 2013 (that was unfortunately taken down after the company we worked for was acquired): Want to be a Glass photographer? Hilarious new video reveal the contortions snappers go through to get the perfect picture with Google's wearable computer | Daily Mail Online
Here's another more recent video that got a lot of views: Are You Worried About the President’s Executive Power? | We the Internet TV - YouTube
Here's a more straightforward video Boris edited that went viral: How To Open Every Shellfish | Method Mastery | Epicurious (youtube.com)
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Anton Makiievskyi
7 months ago
Excited to get the project to the minimum funding bar. Please update once the video is out: it’s success may incentivize more donations/investments
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Alex Khurgin
7 months ago
@AntonMakiievskyi Thank you so much, Anton - will update with the first video in the next few weeks
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Alyssa Riceman
7 months ago
I myself am not a hugely-enthusiastic consumer of video content, so my intuitions about how well this will pay off tend pessimistic-by-default; but, trying to suppress those intuitions in favor of outside-view, many people do in fact seem to absorb material better via video than via other formats, and be more prone to sharing it with one another via video than via other formats; thus this seems in fact pretty promising, to me, as a way of trying to roll the dice on a jump in viral spread of information on the videos' respective topics, and that seems like an outcome worth grasping at. Not, in the end, an outcome I judged sufficiently worth-grasping-at for me to be willing to fund it at $2000-or-above valuation, and thus not one I chose to fund; but nonnegligibly valuable, nonetheless. (Had it been fundable at $1000 valuation, I would likely have gone for it.)
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Alex Khurgin
7 months ago
@casebash We'll be able to complete our first video on AI x-risk aimed at the general public, including a few motion graphic bells and whistles, and pay to promote the video. Thanks for asking!
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Chris Leong
7 months ago
@alexkhurgin I offer to purchase an impact certificate at the default price. Open to negotiating. I mostly selected the default because I’m new to this funding mechanism and I’m still a bit confused by it.
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Chris Leong
7 months ago
@casebash I should state my reasoning as it may encourage others to invest.
$2000 minimum is quite reasonable as a bet given your background, plus the quality of the video provided.
Video content is one of EA’s weaknesses. I also imagine this work could likely receive further funding if the first video or videos were done well with would increase its impact.
One thing that would increase my optimism about this project would be a plan to get people from watching these videos to potentially taking action.
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Saul Munn
8 months ago
reasons I'm excited about this:
your track record is really great — you're clearly very experienced & know what you're talking about. this is honestly the primary reason i'm excited; you're a qualified, competent person, interested in making impactful content.
the topics you listed seem really impactful, and i'd be excited about more people knowing about them & reducing their expected negative impact on the world.
things that make me pause:
it's unclear to me what the path to impact is after you've made the videos. let's say you make them, they're great, super educational, etc — then what? how do you get to the impact at that point?
fwiw, my guess is that the majority of the impact would come from one or both of the following:
the video goes viral, in which case the calls-to-action/"what can you do as a regular person" matters a LOT, and is the primary mechanism for determining the extent to which these videos have impact
the video is used by e.g. EA groups/AI safety groups for outreach, in which case the calls-to-action within the videos matter a lot less, but their usage in specific contexts matters more
either way, though, i'd be interested to hear more about your thoughts here.