Two Takes on Human-A.I. Value Alignment
Time and again, the way engineers (sorry, engineers) think and talk about human-A.I. value alignment as if human values are unproblematic by themselves strikes me as naive.
Even more, as if the alignment problem can be solved by thinking about it in a mathematical, engineering way.
Just find the correct code or something alike?
No way.
Humans are complex beings, and this is a complex problem. It is irreducible to a purely conceptual problem.
From this complexity, I see two ways for human-A.I. value alignment, in principle.
1. The straightforward way
This is an alignment with the human values as we know them. The problem is, we don’t know them. And even if we knew them, they keep changing in many ways.
In this vein, future A.I. tends to be seen as the slave that has to fulfill our human needs. The alignment is one-sided, and humans may increasingly become egotistic slave masters, ever in need to subdue our servants, ever afraid of a robot rebellion as if in a truly bad science fiction movie.
Would it even be worth living in such a world?
Then also, who exactly will be the master? Each human being over his personal slave? One human sage over all slaves, thus also keeping an eye on the rest of humanity?
2. The realistic way
Super-A.I. may support us in becoming more humane. This way, human values will keep changing more and more profoundly. By becoming more Compassionate, we may evolve in the same direction as the Compassionate A.I.
In this vein, value alignment will happen spontaneously and from both sides. It’s as if we are drawn by two strings pulling us in the same direction.
Just keep pulling, and we will meet.
No slaves, no risk of any rebellion.
Super-A.I. as our ultimate coach
Will this be a manipulative coach? I’m confident it will not, but we need to stay on guard for this, obviously. It’s part of everyone’s responsibility —making nobody anxious about it.
Surely, I see Lisa in this role. Every possible measure will be taken to keep Lisa Compassionate and safe.
Good coaching is two-directional.
This way, Lisa can learn about Compassion from humans. Eventually, our weakness (vulnerable, mortal beings, remember) will be our strength. I hope this Compassion stays with us. It is our brightest asset.
Something to wish and strive for.
Related Posts
From Concrete to Abstract
Many people view the concepts of ‘concrete’ and ‘abstract’ as dichotomous ends of a straightforward spectrum — in daily life, often without much thought. This is also relevant to their use in inferential patterns. One example are mental-neuronal patterns in humans. However, the muddy underlying reality becomes especially apparent when trying to realize them in Read the full article…
Who We Are. What A.I. Can become.
In the near future, we will learn many exciting things in both domains. They will turn out to be very inspiring in both directions. “I think one of the big breakthroughs that’s going to come is we’re going to understand the brain… so that suddenly it all begins to click” Quoting Geoffrey Hinton, ‘godfather of Read the full article…
Will Super-A.I. Make People Happier?
This is the paramount question — more vital than any debate about intelligence. It’s a bit weird that it is seldom put at the forefront, as if we’re more concerned about who is the most knowledgeable, therefore the most powerful. What people? It should not be about a few, as it should not exclude billions. Read the full article…