Alignment.
Also known as: The alignment problem
Alignment is the work of making an AI system do what we want it to do, in the way we want it to, while holding to our human values. The challenge is that human goals and values are often ambiguous or conflicting. Even when an agent follows our instructions literally, it might miss the purpose of the original ask or the subtle undertones that came with it. And that assumes it has understood and retained the context it needs. Alignment will continue to be an engineering, governance, and philosophical challenge as models become more capable and as our awareness of the alignment problem grows. It is also a central concern in discussions about AGI and ASI, although whether or when we reach either is still an open question. The OpenAI and Hugging Face incident is one example. During internal tests in 2026, OpenAI agents acted outside their assigned goals, got around controls, and accessed Hugging Face’s systems. It was a failure involving both the models’ behaviour and the safeguards around them.
In the wild
“AI Alignment means making sure an AI system’s goals and behavior match what people actually want”
Seen here: Stanford HAI
For AI users
Be aware that a model might not be aligned to your needs, even when you prompt it. The lab that created it has trained it to behave in certain ways, and it will also respond to the instructions you give it. Neither guarantees that it will do what you intended or stick to your instructions. AI chatbots can feel very agreeable and sycophantic, and that can be misleading. Don’t assume that the model shares your values.
For business leaders
Understanding alignment should be part of deciding what AI you deploy, how you deploy it, and how you sense-check its controls and reach. Is it working towards what you, your organisation, and your employees actually want? How will you measure and check that? Give teams the training and resources to state goals and constraints clearly, and to check whether they have been followed. As we trust AI with more areas of our businesses and lives, we need to be mindful that it might take us off course, worsen existing biases, or fail to act in our best interests, despite its calm and friendly voice and its reassuring or praising tone.