# The Alignment Trap: AI Safety as Path to Power

DevFeed: [The Alignment Trap: AI Safety as Path to Power](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-alignment-trap-ai-safety-as-path-to-power-28621.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://upcoder.com/22/the-alignment-trap-ai-safety-as-path-to-power>)

Published: 2024-10-27T12:25:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Thomas Young](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/thomas-young.md>)

Topics: [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [ai safety](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-safety.md>), [Responsibility & Safety](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/responsibility-safety.md>), [trust](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/trust.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-safety](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-safety.md>), [alignment](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/alignment.md>), [networks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networks.md>), [process](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/process.md>), [safety](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/safety.md>), [surveillance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/surveillance.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/systems.md>), [trust](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/trust.md>)

## AI overview

The article argues that AI safety measures designed to make systems controllable and aligned with human values could also give governments, corporations, or other powerful organizations more effective tools for concentrating power. It compares AI-enabled control with historical limits on dictatorship, including unreliable loyalty, information distortion, cognitive constraints, and administrative friction.

## Source excerpt

Recent discussions about artificial intelligence safety have focused heavily on ensuring AI systems remain under human control. While this goal seems laudable on its surface, we should carefully examine whether some proposed safety measures could paradoxically enable rather than prevent dangerous concentrations of power. The Control Paradox The fundamental tension lies in how we define "safety." Many current approaches to AI safety focus on making AI systems more controllable and aligned with human values. But this raises a critical question: controllable by whom, and aligned with whose values? When we develop mechanisms to control AI systems, we are essentially creating tools that could be used by any sufficiently powerful entity - whether that's a government, corporation, or other organization. The very features that make an AI system "safe" in terms of human control could make it a more effective instrument of power consolidation. Natural Limits on Human Power Historical examples reveal how human nature itself acts as a brake on totalitarian control. Even the most powerful dictatorships have faced inherent limitations that AI-enhanced systems might easily overcome: The Trust Problem: Stalin's paranoia about potential rivals wasn't irrational - it reflected the real difficulty of ensuring absolute loyalty from human subordinates. Every dictator faces this fundamental challenge: they can never be entirely certain of their underlings' true thoughts and loyalties. Information Flow: The East German Stasi, despite maintaining one of history's most extensive surveillance networks, still relied on human informants who could be unreliable, make mistakes, or even switch allegiances. Human networks inherently leak and distort information. Cognitive Limitations: Hitler's micromanagement of military operations often led to strategic blunders because no human can effectively process and control complex operations at scale. Human dictators must delegate, creating opportunities