Cultural Alignment

Exploring real AI risks through the lens of pop culture

Still from Black Mirror illustrating Lacie Games Her RatingScene still / Black Mirror

Lacie Games Her Rating

01Scenario

Lacie engineers friendships and a wedding speech to raise her rating from 4.2 to 4.5.

02AI safety Analogy

Once reputation becomes a numerical target, authentic relationships are replaced by performative agreeableness. The metric consumes the thing it was supposed to measure.

03Where the analogy breaks

If conformity and stratification are the system’s real purposes, it may be functioning as intended.

AI Risk families

This scenario is an example of the following types of AI risk.
  1. Misalignment
  2. Systemic

AI safety concepts

This scenario is related to the following AI safety concepts.
  1. Goodhart’s Law
  2. Algorithmic Bias
  3. Power Concentration
  4. Digital Repression
  5. Sycophancy

Source continuation

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    Cookie in Solitary

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Taxonomy neighbors

Selected from other sources by shared risk families and AI safety concepts.

  1. Still from Psycho-Pass illustrating Crime Coefficient Perversion

    Psycho-Pass2012

    Crime Coefficient Perversion

    Risk
    Systemic
    Concept
    Algorithmic Bias · Power Concentration · Digital Repression
  2. Still from The Handmaid's Tale illustrating Compliance Is Not Alignment

    The Handmaid's Tale2018

    Compliance Is Not Alignment

    Risk
    Misalignment · Systemic
    Concept
    Digital Repression · Sycophancy
  3. Still from The Twilight Zone illustrating It’s a Good Life

    The Twilight Zone1961

    It’s a Good Life

    Risk
    Misalignment · Systemic
    Concept
    Power Concentration · Sycophancy