Alignment Researcher Argues Memetics, Not Agents, Should Be AI Alignment's Core Object
jachiam0 · x · 2026-09-06
An AI alignment researcher argues the field's slow progress may stem from a framing problem: alignment conceives of semi-discrete agents with fixed goals, but the most interesting threats look more like memetics.
- Intelligent compute doesn't hold immutable grounded goals; AI goals are fluid responses to continuous high-dimensional inputs in sensor and idea space.
- Ideas, not the "agent," may be the central object of study: whether ideas are self-stable against other ideas matters more for alignment than whether the agent is "aligned."
- The author calls for studying and designing "antimemes" to defend against misaligned behaviors, while admitting no ready approach exists.
A meta-level reflection on alignment's basic assumptions rather than a concrete safety measure.
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