#78 – Jacob Trefethen on Global Health R&D

Hear This Idea

Jacob Trefethen oversees Open Philanthropy’s science and science policy programs. He was a Henry Fellow at Harvard University, and has a B.A. from the University of Cambridge.

You can find links and a transcript at www.hearthisidea.com/episodes/trefethen

In this episode we talked about open source the risks and benefits of open source AI models. We talk about:

• Life-saving health technologies which probably won't exist in 5 years (without a concerted effort) — like a widely available TB vaccine, and bugs which stop malaria spreading
• How R&D for neglected diseases works —
• How much does the world spend on it?
• How do drugs for neglected diseases go from design to distribution?
• No-brainer policy ideas for speeding up global health R&D
• Comparing health R&D to public health interventions (like bed nets)
• Comparing the social returns to frontier (‘Progress Studies’) to global health R&D
• Why is there no GiveWell-equivalent for global health R&D?
• Won't AI do all the R&D for us soon?

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