It was pitched as the place where the world’s leading technologists, scientists and philosophers would gather to figure out how effective altruism and artificial intelligence could be combined to create a global force to eradicate poverty and improve everyone’s lives. The Effective Ventures Foundation (EVF), which defines effective altruism as “using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible”, decided £14.9m of its cash would be best spent buying Wytham Abbey, a 15th-century Grade-I listed manor house near Oxford. The 27-bedroom house, which has over the years been visited by Queen Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell and Queen Victoria, was transformed into a retreat for believers in the movement, including the now-jailed FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and the Estonian billionaire Jaan Tallinn, who made a fortune investing early in Skype. However, just two years after buying the mansion, which acquired the nickname “Effective Altruism Castle”, the EVF has put it up for sale for £15m. The foundationbought the abbey with grants from Open Philanthropy, the funding organisation co-founded by Moskovitz. The proceeds will be used to “support high-impact charities”, it said. It comes soon after the EVF’s parent group,...