Toby Ord: AI safety incentives often locally point to capabilities, not safety

tobyordoxford · x · 2026-09-03

Oxford philosopher Toby Ord argues policy must understand the direction and strength of technological incentives, but in many AI safety cases these incentives may only locally favor capabilities over safety — e.g., OpenAI's share price in 10 years may well be higher if they preserve chain-of-thought. He adds that while long-term self-interested incentives leaning toward safety won't stop short-term pursuit, it still justifies policy: forcing safety is in companies' own interest too.

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