I'm going to be a contestant on British quiz show Pointless! It's a popular quiz show which, I think, averages ~3 million views per episode - largely in the UK. I'd love to get in a promotion for EA or something EA-ish. There is a 20 second personal intro (e.g. at 3:24) and sometimes 5 seconds to talk about where your prize money would go.
Has anyone considered if there's anything effective to get across in a short time to a large general audience? Would be very interested if there are resources/previous discussions - and welcome opinions too. This isn't necessarily an elevator pitch for EA though- it may just be a brief reference in my personal intro (I'm unsure how formulaic the show is).
Initial thoughts are, I study AI so would probably talk plans to work on safe AI. Could talk about giving 10% to charity. I could also name-check CEA or 80,000 hours, or possibly someone like GovAI if I got as far as winning money.
I applied last night, had a pre-screening interview just now, and filming is on Monday (edit: now delayed to Spring 2022) - so haven't thought through much... Any advice on picking up lots of general knowledge in a weekend would be lovely too.
I did a quick pitch for GiveWell after winning a gaming tournament, though I had more time than it sounds like you will.
It might help if you can link to a clip of what someone's personal intro sounds like / how it is presented.
In your place, I'd avoid trying to say anything about AI risk in 25 seconds and stick to "effective altruism" (someone who's curious can easily Google that and find out about AI and other things quickly thereafter).
So maybe something like: "I study artificial intelligence and think a lot about effective altruism, which is the art of doing as much good as you can with your money and your time. Google it!" (That last bit may be too much, but I think it could work in the context of a lighthearted show.)
And if you win money: "I'll be donating this to X, which does Y".
Yes, though it's not clear whether it was the broadcast plug or some Tweeting/streaming I did later with more plugs.
A couple of people just told me they donated without mentioning an amount (and I assume the donations were small). One person claims to have matched all the GiveWell donations I made that year (over $25,000) — I think this claim is probably true, because a GiveWell staffer responded on Twitter to thank them.
I also heard from another person who told me they registered for EA Global in part because they remembered my talking about effective altruism, which could have originated with the broadcast plug. That's the only impact that comes to mind.