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jagged-chiseltoday at 6:09 PM4 repliesview on HN

"Alignment"

In what world would I ever expect a commercial (or governmental) entity to have precise alignment with me personally, or even with my own business? I argue those relationships are necessarily adversarial, and trusting anyone else to align their "AI" tool to my goals, needs, and/or desires is a recipe for having my livelihood completely reassigned into someone else's wallet.


Replies

seizethecheesetoday at 8:47 PM

Why would relationships with a commercial entity be "necessarily adversarial"? A commercial relationship depends on the product providing more utility than the cost (for the consumer) and providing more revenue than cost (for the commercial entity). This means that while some components of the relationship may be adversarial in some areas, it cannot really be entirely adversarial.

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sigbottletoday at 6:18 PM

Interesting you single out commercial and government entities but not people. What defines the difference? Bureaucracy? Concentration of resources? Legal theory?

I guess I'm trying to wonder why this line of thinking (in theory) doesn't turn to paranoia about everybody. I don't know much ethics or political theory or anything.

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__MatrixMan__today at 6:23 PM

You could expect such a thing in a world where consent was currency, rather than scarcity.

tyrusttoday at 7:35 PM

> precise alignment with me personally, or even with my own business

Seems like a strawman, I don't think anyone means this when talking about alignment.

More general goals, like avoiding paperclip maximization, are broadly applicable to humanity.

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