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Clarifying the role of the behavioral selection model — LessWrong

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This is a brief elaboration on The behavioral selection model for predicting AI motivations, based on some feedback and thoughts I’ve had since publishing. Written quickly in a personal capacity. The main focus of this post is clarifying the basic machinery of the behavioral selection model, and conveying why it matters to disambiguate between different “motivations” for AI behavior. Very similar or identical behavior in training can correspond to radically different outcomes in deployment based on what motivated it. I’ll preface by saying: I think the behavioral selection model is quite predictive and useful to understand, especially in the short-medium term. But it leaves out some really important dynamics for predicting AI motivations, and I wish I had clarified this more in the original post. Most importantly (as Habryka mentioned), it leaves out the effect of reflection and deliberation on AI motivations (which I discuss a small amount in other pieces, and briefly at the end of th

x Clarifying the role of the behavioral selection model — LessWrong AI Frontpage 17 Clarifying the role of the behavioral selection model by Alex Mallen 10th May 2026 AI Alignment Forum 5 min read 0 17 Ω 10 This is a brief elaboration on The behavioral selection model for predicting AI motivations , based on some feedback and thoughts I’ve had since publishing. Written quickly in a personal capacity. The main focus of this post is clarifying the basic machinery of the behavioral selection model, and conveying why it matters to disambiguate between different “motivations” for AI behavior . Very

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