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arXiv · 2305.02748

A computational framework for human values

Nardine Osman·Mark d'Inverno
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Abstract

In the diverse array of work investigating the nature of human values from psychology, philosophy and social sciences, there is a clear consensus that values guide behaviour. More recently, a recognition that values provide a means to engineer ethical AI has emerged. Indeed, Stuart Russell proposed shifting AI's focus away from simply ``intelligence'' towards intelligence ``provably aligned with human values''. This challenge -- the value alignment problem -- with others including an AI's learning of human values, aggregating individual values to groups, and designing computational mechanisms to reason over values, has energised a sustained research effort. Despite this, no formal, computational definition of values has yet been proposed. We address this through a formal conceptual framework rooted in the social sciences, that provides a foundation for the systematic, integrated and interdisciplinary investigation into how human values can support designing ethical AI.

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Nardine Osman, Mark d'Inverno. 2023-05-04. A computational framework for human values. https://doi.org/10.5555/3635637.3663013

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