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Russell's Edge response of 2014 states that a system's utility function may not be aligned with human values, which are very difficult to pin down, that this is not a minor difficulty, and that AI research, which has aimed at better decisions whatever the utility function, needs to change its goals to building intelligence provably aligned with human values. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2014 · publication Records dated 2014 → Wording attested 2014-12-06. The Edge response carries no date of its own. The cross-family check of 2026-10-31 found the passage absent from captures of 18 and 21 November 2014 and present in the capture of 6 December 2014. Role Articulation Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Scope and limits The response states that there is cause for optimism if alignment is treated as intrinsic to AI; it argues for a change in the field's goals, not that alignment cannot be achieved.
The evidence 02 primary source Supports the claim
Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion) ↗ Edge.org, conversation page "The Myth of AI" (Jaron Lanier, dated 14 November 2014), Reality Club discussion · 2014
Archived copy, captured 2014-12-06: Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion) ↗
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Source excerpt “This is not a minor difficulty.” Location in source Reality Club response "Of Myths And Moonshine", paragraph after the numbered points
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-10-31
Source details and check notes Authors Stuart Russell Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29 (SHA-256 6ea0800c969ae54c4fad372468aa5a9a557b4d25a081bee9b26d51048fd8d159). current Edge.org conversation page retrieved 2026-10-29 (the page states that the site is hosted by the Internet Archive); responses carry no individual dates. The cross-family check retrieved it again on 2026-10-31; the bytes differ, and the check compared the quoted passages. The cross-family check of 2026-10-31 found Russell's quoted passages absent from the captures of 18 and 21 November 2014 and present in the capture of 6 December 2014. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-29 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2014-12-06: Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion) ↗ . An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2014-12-06. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-29.Attribution Stuart Russell, “Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion)”, 2014. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, arguments about catastrophic risk from advanced AI (research/risk-debate). The quotation (6 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-10-31, item 59) answered the record’s question blind and agreed with its stance. No human editorial review. primary source Supports the claim
Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion) ↗ Edge.org, conversation page "The Myth of AI" (Jaron Lanier, dated 14 November 2014), Reality Club discussion · 2014
Archived copy, captured 2014-12-06: Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion) ↗
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Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
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Paraphrase Russell writes that the values of the human race are at best very difficult to pin down, that improving decision quality irrespective of the utility function has been the mainstream goal of AI research, and that the right response is to change the field's goals to building intelligence provably aligned with human values.
Location in source Same response, numbered point 1 and closing paragraphs
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-10-31
Source details and check notes Authors Stuart Russell Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29 (SHA-256 6ea0800c969ae54c4fad372468aa5a9a557b4d25a081bee9b26d51048fd8d159). current Edge.org conversation page retrieved 2026-10-29 (the page states that the site is hosted by the Internet Archive); responses carry no individual dates. The cross-family check retrieved it again on 2026-10-31; the bytes differ, and the check compared the quoted passages. The cross-family check of 2026-10-31 found Russell's quoted passages absent from the captures of 18 and 21 November 2014 and present in the capture of 6 December 2014. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-29 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2014-12-06: Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion) ↗ . An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2014-12-06. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-29.Attribution Stuart Russell, “Of Myths And Moonshine (response by Stuart Russell, in "The Myth of AI", Reality Club discussion)”, 2014. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, arguments about catastrophic risk from advanced AI (research/risk-debate). The paraphrase is Selekoa’s, written from the text retrieved for the candidate pack; it is not a quotation and was not machine-matched. A cross-family machine check (2026-10-31, item 59) answered the record’s question blind and agreed with its stance. No human editorial review. Status and meaning Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor . An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document meets the proposition’s criterion. The record documents what the text states, in its register (fiction and satire are labelled); it is not evidence that the proposition is true and implies no influence on or from another text.
Date. Date of posting.
Record ID rd-r06-russell-2014-edge-myths-and-moonshine