Scott Alexander defends "handoverism": aligned AI in control can serve human interests
alexeyguzey · x · 2026-11-02
Scott Alexander's new essay "Against Against Handover" (Astral Codex Ten) pushes back on AI-safety critics attacking "AI successionism." He distinguishes true successionism — AIs take over and steamroll human interests, which safety exists to prevent — from handoverism, the view that human interests may be well served by placing aligned AIs in positions of control. He argues the backlash stems from a nationalist outlook where leadership must belong to "your own kind," whereas under a liberal view the state is a service provider dispensing coordination, order, and redistribution — and service providers can be automated, just like robot garbagemen. The poster sharing it strongly disagrees, accusing handoverism advocates of wanting human disempowerment with no human say in what a "aligned" ASI decides.
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