[rossnordby]

Without touching on the specifics of AI risk, it's worth noting that any approach which takes into account the marginal value of additional dollars towards a cause and 'room for funding' will tend to lean towards things outside of the charitable Overton window.

The 'obvious' cause areas are often already attended to, by virtue of being obvious. Picking the low hanging fruit means more money towards the same causes will tend to become less effective per dollar.

People aren't that great about planning for, or responding to, black swans. By nature, they're something people don't tend to think about. Existential risks are black swans dialed up to 11 in both magnitude of effect and in weirdness, so it's not surprising when they end up underfunded.