The Real Alignment Problem

“AI ethicists” wrestle with the idea of alignment - will AI be aligned with human interests and if not, should we stop innovating with AI? Side-stepping the idea that self-proclaimed ethicists and moralists have any standing, we tend to forget that we currently do not have any alignment between our governments and ourselves.

Since the Gettysburg address, Americans believe that democracy is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” But this is a myth. Like any relationship between any groups of people, government is subject to the principal-agent problem. There is no incentive for the government to look out for the welfare of its people. Not even re-election (The congressional approval rating is 17% and congressional incumbents are re-elected over 90% of the time).

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” - Winston Churchill

To get alignment in government, you must have self-government. You must be responsible for as many choices as possible. The default must be less government overreach.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. - Alexander Fraser Tytler