Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."
Sam Carter
@samicart.bsky.social
Senior AI Policy Manager at J-PAL. Helping bring rigorous evidence to the conversation on "AI for Good."
Willingness Toupee (McEvoy et al. 2019) has a new competitor for "Sam's favorite silly paper" in What's Brown and Sticky? (Silvia and Burnett 2025). doi.org/10.31234/osf...
OSF
doi.org
AI for social good! What does existing rigorous evidence tell us about the most promising opportunities for AI to fulfill its potential? On the @j-pal.bsky.social blog, we outline six pathways:
Consider yourself lucky if this doesn't frighten you. It's a nightmare on the Northeast Regional Corridor.
Recently unearthed my favorite tweet in the history of twitter, posting here so I never lose it again (hi @mosenkis.bsky.social )
This looks like a phenomenal resource!
Todd Pugatch@toddpugatch.bsky.social · last yr.Econ instructors: considering running an RCT but unsure where to start? My new working paper (w/ @lizschroeder.bsky.social) can guide you. We walk you through all the steps to run an RCT: design, setup, implementation & analysis, w/ many examples along the way. 1/2 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
“the food marked for destruction could have met the nutritional needs of every child facing acute food insecurity in Gaza for a week”
Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · last yr."Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it" @hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000 www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
No words for this hypocrisy. These people sacrificed millions of human lives, decades of progress against the world’s toughest challenges, and our country’s soft power—all while COSTING Americans $6B. news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
USAID Shutdown Costs Top $6 Billion, Internal Estimate Shows
The estimate, included in a seven-page memo prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, raises questions about how much President Donald Trump will ultimately save taxpayers by closing USAID and othe...
news.bgov.com
1. Trump's tax cuts overwhelmingly help the rich 2. His spending cuts are targeted at the poor 3. Tariffs cost the poor a larger share of their income Roll these three regressive policies together and you get the largest redistribution from poor to rich in American history. The anti-Robin Hood.
📅 On June 12, join @hanshengchia.bsky.social, Samantha Carter, & Farhan Abrol for a @voxdev.bsky.social event exploring the potential applications of AI. W/ @cgdev.org, @j-pal.bsky.social & @agencyfund.bsky.social. Register! ⬇️ cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: AI for Good? Evaluating the Impact of AI in Development. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Organisations looking to use AI for development are concerned about the potential for errors and biases when using AI in high-stakes situations. In this webinar, a collaboration with the Center for G...
cepr-org.zoom.us
Excellent podcast summarizing both a new RCT (tinyurl.com/findingtalen...) and the general discussion on "AI for the Global South." Two things I particularly liked:
VoxDev@voxdev.bsky.social · last yr.“If more people get engaged, I’m hoping economists, AI engineers, and policymaker get together and try to tackle social problems… maybe there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit that’s available.” David Yanagizawa-Drott on using AI in policy research:
“Behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan has never forgotten the pleasure he felt the first time he tasted a delicious crisp, yet gooey Levain cookie" is an excellent lede computing.mit.edu/news/the-swe...
The sweet taste of a new idea - MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
Behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan has never forgotten the pleasure he felt the first time he tasted a delicious crisp, yet gooey Levain cookie. He compares the experience to when he encounters...
computing.mit.edu
USAID cuts have left major aid programs without funding. @cgdev.org is now hosting a team analyzing which ex-USAID programs are most cost-effective—and connecting them with donors willing to step in. Learn more in @npr.org: www.npr.org/sections/goa...
A matchmaking service with a twist: Connecting big givers to programs cut by USAID
A former USAID worker has a new mission. She's hoping to connect philanthropists with overseas programs that have lost — or are likely to lose — their U.S. funding.
npr.org
If it looks like the intervention you evaluated didn't work, what does that really mean? blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva... My summary of a taxonomy by Glewwe & Muralidharan #throwbackthursday
Great interview with @deankarlan.bsky.social! On generalizability (it matters but it's solvable), whether RCTs really are too slow (no, the eval method doesn't determine timelines, the outcomes of interest do), agency (exciting, need more research), etc.
The Agency Fund@theagencyfund.bsky.social · last yr.Are international development programs effective? It’s a question that’s been making headlines. We spoke with Dean Karlan—founder of @poverty-action.bsky.social and professor at Northwestern about what’s been learned through RCTs and what’s next: open.substack.com/pub/theagenc...
If you find yourself confused by, tired of, and/or wanting more conversation about "evaluation" in AI, fear not! A new, practical framework from @theagencyfund.bsky.social is here. Hans @cgdev.org and I love it, and are helping to spread the word!
Michael Eddy@michaeleddy.bsky.social · last yr.“Evaluation” is a vague term in AI — and that’s a problem. This new piece offers a clear framework for sequencing evaluations of AI for good so we can better assess what matters, when, and why.👇 theagencyfund.substack.com/p/an-ai-eval... By @agencyfund.bsky.social w @samicart.bsky.social & others
Just came across this piece, and agree with it wholeheartedly! "Governments must realign incentives [from the current focus on automation] to encourage AI that serves social needs, such as enhancing education, improving health outcomes, and tackling climate challenges."
Project Syndicate@projectsyndicate.bsky.social · 2y agoThe few countries spearheading AI technologies are investing billions of dollars in labor-replacing applications that will exacerbate inequality. Policymakers need to step in to change the incentives, Shamika Sirimanne and @odid-qeh.bsky.social's Xiaolan Fu argue.
What do we get wrong (i.e. misperceive) about the world? Why does it matter? How does fixing misperceptions improve society? Research on @voxdev.bsky.social has answered all these questions and more, documenting a series of misperceptions that can be fixed 🧵
Worried about the people hurt by Trump’s cuts? @sigalsamuel.bsky.social has curated some great resources for how to help:
3 ways you can help the people hurt by Trump’s foreign aid cuts
The president took away life-saving aid. You can give some of it back.
vox.com
“The world must now affirm that human lives matter, no matter where they are.” In a new op-ed, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo call for governments, multilaterals, and philanthropists to double down on investing in evidence-backed programs that improve people’s lives. www.ft.com/content/43e9...
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo: Foreign aid can be effective without the US
In the wake of USAID cuts, wealthy nations and individuals must take the reins
ft.com
Your tax dollars did amazing things.
Atul Gawande@agawande.bsky.social · 2y agoRubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts. Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵
Another op-ed by someone whose ACTUAL JOB was making US govt. more efficient, for everyone's benefit. "Our work was about trying to learn how to make government work better and more efficiently. I would have been very open to investigate the questions they had, but I didn’t have an opportunity to."
Minnesota Reformer@minnesotareformer.com · 2y ago"It just became very clear early on that there was no interest in any of the work we were doing." minnesotareformer.com/2025/02/26/t...
How can AI be used for social good? A new piece in Nature highlights a few examples (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can AI help beat poverty? Researchers test ways to aid the poorest people
Measuring poverty is the first step to delivering support, but it has long been a costly, time-intensive and contentious endeavour.
nature.com
"We now have a million million tragedies that could have been avoided."
Jeff Mosenkis@mosenkis.bsky.social · 2y agoWhy Dean Karlan, Chief Economist of USAID resigned yesterday: "I was ready to rebuild from wherever we ended up to identify the most effective programs, figure out how to get them back in place, and to recommend new awards. But I received no response. Zero engagement." www.npr.org/sections/goa...