[2605.10310] Positive Alignment: Artificial Intelligence for Human Flourishing

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Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence

arXiv:2605.10310 (cs)

[Submitted on 11 May 2026 (v1), last revised 14 May 2026 (this version, v2)]

Title:Positive Alignment: Artificial Intelligence for Human Flourishing

Authors:Ruben Laukkonen, Seb Krier, Chloé Bakalar, Shamil Chandaria, Morten Kringelbach, Adam Elwood, Daniel Ford, Fernando Rosas, Maty Bohacek, Matija Franklin, Nenad Tomašev, Stephanie Chan, Verena Rieser, Roma Patel, Michael Levin, Arun Rao<br>View a PDF of the paper titled Positive Alignment: Artificial Intelligence for Human Flourishing, by Ruben Laukkonen and 15 other authors

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Abstract:Existing alignment research is dominated by concerns about safety and preventing harm: safeguards, controllability, and compliance. This paradigm of alignment parallels early psychology's focus on mental illness: necessary but incomplete. What we call Positive Alignment is the development of AI systems that (i) actively support human and ecological flourishing in a pluralistic, polycentric, context-sensitive, and user-authored way while (ii) remaining safe and cooperative. It is a distinct and necessary agenda within AI alignment research. We argue that several existing failures of alignment (e.g., engagement hacking, loss of human autonomy, failures in truth-seeking, low epistemic humility, error correction, lack of diverse viewpoints, and being primarily reactive rather than proactive) may be better addressed through positive alignment, including cultivating virtues and maximizing human flourishing. We highlight a range of challenges, open questions, and technical directions (e.g., data filtering and upsampling, pre- and post-training, evaluations, collaborative value collection) for different phases of the LLM and agents lifecycle. We end with design principles for promoting disagreement and decentralization through contextual grounding, community customization, continual adaptation, and polycentric governance; that is, many legitimate centers of oversight rather than one institutional or moral chokepoint.

Subjects:

Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Computers and Society (cs.CY); Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC); Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)

Cite as:<br>arXiv:2605.10310 [cs.AI]

(or<br>arXiv:2605.10310v2 [cs.AI] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.10310

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Submission history<br>From: Ruben Laukkonen [view email]<br>[v1]<br>Mon, 11 May 2026 10:11:08 UTC (5,479 KB)

[v2]<br>Thu, 14 May 2026 08:50:45 UTC (7,141 KB)

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