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The potentially deadly threat of AI output-optimization

L5 · ResearcherResearchLessWrong AI· 10/10/2026

Critical safety research for AI alignment and catastrophic risk prevention.

AI Summary

Explores the potentially catastrophic risks when AI systems optimize for outputs rather than underlying processes, drawing parallels to human systems failure.

Excerpt

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear, Atomic Habits “We cannot improve results ‘directly.’ It can only be achieved by improving those processes [...] that produce results.” — Orest Fiume The much discussed “P(doom)” question asks about the likelihoods we’d ascribe to the most lethal possible futures of AI. What happens when we invert this question? It transforms into the presumably less urgent, though I’d say still important, form: Wh

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