It is employed to resolve the cognitive dissonance that highly talented people struggle with, when they realize they could do anything they set their minds to (including making the world a better place), but still want to work as a quant or optimize for ad clicks, because this pays well.
Like Goedel stated "most religions are bad, but religion is not", most people vocally identifying with EA are bad, but EA is not. To judge EA by the character flaws of prominent people like SBF, is like judging Christianity for Jim Jones's massacre. EA is, in essence, about effectively allocating charity. Noble and good-hearted.
Surely, grifters and frauds would abuse EA to virtue signal or trick venture capitalists into thinking their investment also builds wells in Africa. That should reflect badly on them. Elizabeth Holmes got so far, in part, because venture capitalists were attracted to her due to her being a young female. Merely Goodhart's Law in progress, not young female entrepreneurs being bad or without merit.