Cultural Alignment

Exploring real AI risks through the lens of pop culture

Still from Breaking Bad illustrating Todd Enforces “No Witnesses”Scene still / Breaking Bad

Todd Enforces “No Witnesses”

01Scenario

Todd enforces the robbery’s “no witnesses” requirement by shooting Drew Sharp.

02AI safety Analogy

Todd satisfies the explicit secrecy constraint while violating the overwhelmingly important moral constraint everyone assumed went without saying. Competence cannot reconstruct values that were never shared or specified.

03Where the analogy breaks

Todd understands the moral norm and rejects it; this is not innocent machine confusion.

AI Risk families

This scenario is an example of this type of AI risk.
  1. Misalignment

AI safety concepts

This scenario is related to the following AI safety concepts.
  1. Value Alignment
  2. Outer Alignment

Source continuation

More from Breaking Bad

View all 2 scenarios
  1. Still from Breaking Bad illustrating Walt Eliminates Gale

    Breaking Bad2010

    Walt Eliminates Gale

Taxonomy neighbors

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

  1. Still from Inside Out 2 illustrating Anxiety Takes the Console

    Inside Out 22024

    Anxiety Takes the Console

    Risk
    Misalignment
    Concept
    Value Alignment · Outer Alignment
  2. Still from Avengers: Infinity War illustrating Balance the Universe

    Avengers: Infinity War2018

    Balance the Universe

    Risk
    Misalignment
    Concept
    Value Alignment · Outer Alignment
  3. Still from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl illustrating Cursed Immortality

    Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl2003

    Cursed Immortality

    Risk
    Misalignment
    Concept
    Value Alignment · Outer Alignment