Over 300 Plants Found Controlling Media: Our Old Friend Group Went Rouge & Wants to Destroy AI

Malcolm and Simone break down new reporting from effort.news exposing how effective altruism organizations spent tens of millions funding anti-AI narratives across journalism, YouTube explainer channels, and religious groups. They discuss the circular donor ecosystem, undisclosed grants, and the impact on public discourse.

The conversation covers specific examples from The Guardian, Time Magazine, Kurzgesagt, and multiple faith organizations, along with personal context from their own grant history with the Survival and Flourishing Fund. They also address the mental health effects of doomer messaging and why the arguments fail under scrutiny.

Shout out to Matthew Seagren / @MatchewXD who created the wasp clip!

Show Notes

The Media Astroturfing

Brian covered this on Effort.News in an article titled: How Effective Altruism Bought the Media.

They found “Potemkin articles, in which claims are fabricated, corroborated, and published as journalism by members of an insular donor ecosystem”

They explore the issue through a guardian article that six people collaborated to publish, all of whom were paid for by three megadonors. The Guardian did NOT disclose these sources of funds, and, as Brian’s article puts it: “In a fundraising statement attached to the article, the Guardian proclaims its “fierce independence.””

The payments:

* The Guardian: Paid over $3M by Coefficient Giving

* The reporter, Aisha Down, paid $60-$110K through the Coefficient Giving’s Tarbell Fellowship, which pays her salary

* The quoted experts were all recipients of funds from either SFF, Coefficient, or the Effective Ventures Foundation. The reporter does not justify her reasoning behind calling these people “experts” despite these “experts” publicly admitting their predictions were off by years, if not decades.