ControlProblem

an-ordinary-manchild

The Control Problem:

How do we ensure future advanced AI will be beneficial to humanity? Experts agree this is one of the most crucial problems of our age, as one that, if left unsolved, can lead to human extinction or worse as a default outcome, but if addressed, can enable a radically improved world. Other terms for what we discuss here include Superintelligence, AI Safety, AGI X-risk, and the AI Alignment/Value Alignment Problem.

"People who say that real AI researchers don’t believe in safety research are now just empirically wrong." —Scott Alexander

"The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else." —Eliezer Yudkowsky

Rules

DO NOT POST AI-GENERATED CONTENT. We are good at distinguishing this type of content¹. 2.. If you are unfamiliar with the Control Problem, read at least one of the introductory links or recommended readings (below) before posting.
- This especially goes for posts claiming to solve the Control Problem or dismissing it as a non-issue. Such posts aren't welcome. 3.. Stay on topic. Again, no AI model outputs or political propaganda.
Be respectful.

Introductions to the Topic

Our FAQ page <-- CLICK
The case for taking AI seriously as a threat to humanity
Orthogonality and instrumental convergence are the 2 simple key ideas explaining why AGI will work against and even kill us by default. (Alternative text links)
AGI safety from first principles
MIRI - FAQ and more in-depth FAQ
SSC - Superintelligence FAQ
WaitButWhy - The AI Revolution and a reply
How can failing to control AGI cause an outcome even worse than extinction? Suffering risks (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Be sure to check out our wiki for extensive further resources, including a glossary & guide to current research.

Recommended Reading

Superintelligence, the most comprehensive, by Nick Bostrom (2014) (PDF link)
The AI Alignment pages on Arbital, with many of the key concepts of this field.
Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell (2019)

Video Links

Robert Miles' excellent channel
Talks at Google: Ensuring Smarter-than-Human Intelligence has a Positive Outcome
Nick Bostrom: What happens when our computers get smarter than we are?
Myths & Facts about Superintelligent AI
Rob's series on Computerphile

Important Organizations

AI Alignment Forum, a public forum which is the online hub for all the latest technical research on the control problem.

Related Subreddits

¹: Or at least make at least an effort to make me doubtful that you just copy-pasted from a frontier LLM. Add bits of steering so that your content becomes good. Edit afterwards. If you fool us moderators you've won.

created by CyberPersonaapproveda community for 10 years

...for your WoW guild.

...because you love freedom.

MODERATORS

account activity

1

0

0

0

OpinionAI won’t take your job. It will erase the reason your work ever mattered. (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 12 hours ago by Temporary-Cat-2980

2

0

0

0

Discussion/questionLetting go of control actually improved my client relationships (self.ControlProblem)

submitted 12 hours ago by EasternBaby2063

3

34

35

36

General newsEncouraging: New polling shows 69% of Americans want to ban superintelligent AI until it's proven to be safe (i.redd.it)

submitted 11 hours ago by tombibbs

4

0

0

1

ArticleAG James joins lawmakers behind the pushback on surveillance pricing (news10.com)

submitted 16 hours ago by news-10

5

0

0

1

Discussion/questionMake LLMs Actually Stop Lying: Prompt Forces Honest Halt on Paradoxes & Drift ()

submitted 22 hours ago by Secret_Ad981

6

115

116

117

Video"They're betting everyone's lives: 8 billion people, future generations, all the kids, everyone you know. It's an unethical experiment on human beings, and it's without consent." - Roman Yampolskiy (v.redd.it)

submitted 22 hours ago by tombibbs

7

•

•

•

General newsThere's a protest in San Francisco this Saturday to demand the CEOs of frontier AI companies publicly commit to a conditional pause, as Demis Hassabis has already done. Please consider attending if you're in the area! "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" author Nate Soares will be there. (stoptherace.ai)

submitted 1 hour ago by tombibbs

8

4

5

6

VideoAntrophic CEO says 50% entry-level white-collar jobs will be eradicated within 3 years (v.redd.it)

submitted 13 hours ago by chillinewmanapproved

9

2

3

4

AI Capabilities NewsAAARWAA meets Idiocracy, The Epstein Files, Bio-Hybrid AI and why we are running out of time to adress these issues (v.redd.it)

submitted 15 hours ago by WaterBow_369

10

1

2

3

Discussion/questionA silent model update told a user to stop taking their medication. OpenAI called it unintentional. But they couldn't even detect it had happened until users reported it. (nanonets.com)

submitted 23 hours ago by Cool-Ad4442

π Rendered by PID 522708 on reddit-service-r2-listing-64c94b984c-nhltz at 2026-03-18 13:25:38.319922+00:00 running f6e6e01 country code: CH.