AI Alignment
The field of ensuring AI systems behave in ways that are helpful, honest, and harmless — aligned with human values and intentions. Alignment is the central challenge in building trustworthy AI.
Why this matters
AI alignment determines whether tools do what you actually want, not just what you literally asked for. Claude is specifically built around alignment principles (Constitutional AI). ChatGPT uses RLHF for alignment. Understanding alignment helps you choose tools that are safer and more reliable.
Real-world example
When Claude refuses to help write phishing emails, that's alignment working. When ChatGPT provides balanced viewpoints instead of propaganda, that's alignment. Anthropic (Claude's maker) was founded specifically to solve alignment. The quality of alignment affects how trustworthy and useful an AI tool feels.