Daniel Faggella: positive AGI outcomes require governance, not saintly leaders
danfaggella · x · 2026-11-08
Daniel Faggella argues against pinning AGI safety on finding selfless leaders, advocating international governance that channels self-interest instead:
- Expecting selfless AGI lab leaders (or politicians) is unrealistic; as with law and sports, we should accept human nature and assume amoral selfishness from individuals and organizations.
- Slowing down isn't in any leader's self-interest — if they don't race to build AGI, someone else will; the arms race is driven by incentives, not character.
- A "Selecting Saints vs Establishing Governance" table contrasts the two approaches: saint-selection denies human nature and risks demagoguery; governance embraces it and offers a chance at a non-arms-race dynamic via international guardrails, with oligopoly as its worst case.
- The piece cites Sam Altman's 2024 remark — "no one person should be trusted... the board can fire me" — as evidence that institutional constraints matter more than personal virtue.
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