Rational Animations

Rational Animations is an animated video production organization launched in February 2021 by members of the EA community. The project began as a YouTube channel with a small founding team and an initial $30,000 grant from the EA Infrastructure Fund. It has since grown into a fully remote international team of approximately 40 artists, writers, and technologists, registered as Rational Animations, Inc. (EIN: 99-1838037) in Delaware. The organization produces animated videos covering AI safety and alignment, rationality and epistemic improvement, effective altruism, and transformative technology. Their content targets general audiences and is distributed free on YouTube, with the goal of expanding the pipeline of people who understand and care about these issues. The channel has grown to over 150,000 subscribers, with some videos reaching over a million views. Rational Animations has received multiple grants from Open Philanthropy to support animation production costs, including a $1,000,000 grant in 2023 and an approximately $1.5 million grant in 2024. They also maintain a Patreon with several hundred supporting members. The organization has collaborated with partners including 80,000 Hours, the Center for AI Safety, GiveDirectly, and the Center for Catastrophic Risk Intervention.