This is a critically important and well-articulated post, thank you for defining and championing the Moral Alignment (MA) space. I strongly agree with the core arguments regarding its neglect compared to technical safety, the troubling paradox of purely human-centric alignment given our history, and the urgent need for a sentient-centric approach.
You rightly highlight Sam Altman’s question: “to whose values do you align the system?” This underscores that solving MA isn’t just a task for AI labs or experts, but requires much broader societal reflection and deliberation. If we aim to align AI with our best values, not just a reflection of our flawed past actions, we first need robust mechanisms to clarify and articulate those values collectively.
Building on your call for action, perhaps a vital complementary approach could be fostering this deliberation through a widespread network of accessible “Ethical-Moral Clubs” (or perhaps “Sentientist Ethics Hubs” to align even closer with your theme?) across diverse communities globally.
These clubs could serve a crucial dual purpose:
Formulating Alignment Goals: They would provide spaces for communities themselves to grapple with complex ethical questions and begin articulating what kind of moral alignment they actually desire for AI affecting their lives. This offers a bottom-up way to gather diverse perspectives on the “whose values?” question, potentially identifying both local priorities and identifying shared, potentially universal principles across regions.
Broader Ethical Education & Reflection: These hubs would function as vital centers for learning. They could help participants, and by extension society, better understand different ethical frameworks (including the sentientism central to your post), critically examine their own “stated vs. realized” values (as you mentioned), and become more informed contributors to the crucial dialogue about our future with AI.
Such a grassroots network wouldn’t replace the top-down efforts and research you advocate for, but could significantly support and strengthen the MA movement you envision. It could cultivate the informed public understanding, deliberation, and engagement necessary for sentient-centric AI to gain legitimacy and be implemented effectively and safely.
Ultimately, fostering collective ethical literacy and structured deliberation seems like a necessary foundation for ensuring AI aligns with the best of our values, benefiting all sentient beings. Thanks again for pushing this vital conversation forward.
This is a critically important and well-articulated post, thank you for defining and championing the Moral Alignment (MA) space. I strongly agree with the core arguments regarding its neglect compared to technical safety, the troubling paradox of purely human-centric alignment given our history, and the urgent need for a sentient-centric approach.
You rightly highlight Sam Altman’s question: “to whose values do you align the system?” This underscores that solving MA isn’t just a task for AI labs or experts, but requires much broader societal reflection and deliberation. If we aim to align AI with our best values, not just a reflection of our flawed past actions, we first need robust mechanisms to clarify and articulate those values collectively.
Building on your call for action, perhaps a vital complementary approach could be fostering this deliberation through a widespread network of accessible “Ethical-Moral Clubs” (or perhaps “Sentientist Ethics Hubs” to align even closer with your theme?) across diverse communities globally.
These clubs could serve a crucial dual purpose:
Formulating Alignment Goals: They would provide spaces for communities themselves to grapple with complex ethical questions and begin articulating what kind of moral alignment they actually desire for AI affecting their lives. This offers a bottom-up way to gather diverse perspectives on the “whose values?” question, potentially identifying both local priorities and identifying shared, potentially universal principles across regions.
Broader Ethical Education & Reflection: These hubs would function as vital centers for learning. They could help participants, and by extension society, better understand different ethical frameworks (including the sentientism central to your post), critically examine their own “stated vs. realized” values (as you mentioned), and become more informed contributors to the crucial dialogue about our future with AI.
Such a grassroots network wouldn’t replace the top-down efforts and research you advocate for, but could significantly support and strengthen the MA movement you envision. It could cultivate the informed public understanding, deliberation, and engagement necessary for sentient-centric AI to gain legitimacy and be implemented effectively and safely.
Ultimately, fostering collective ethical literacy and structured deliberation seems like a necessary foundation for ensuring AI aligns with the best of our values, benefiting all sentient beings. Thanks again for pushing this vital conversation forward.
That is a great idea, thanks for all your remarks. I would be happy to hear more about your vision for this, will DM you, hope it is OK.
Thanks for the comment, Ronen! Appreciate the feedback.