Dario Amodei is the CEO of Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company that created the large language model “Claude.” Amodei earned a Princeton PhD, so he is no teenaged whiz kid on a high-tech rush.
Amodei published an article about AI security. He wrote, “I agree with Secretary Bessent that a Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world.” He also expressed concerns about “alignment” issues, i.e., respecting human values. “We’ve made clear progress training models,” he wrote, “so that they remain safe, ethical, compliant with our guidelines, and genuinely helpful (the principles that are embedded in Claude’s constitution).”
Others agree about risks. Former diplomat Susan Rice said, “We face very real and proximate risks that this technology can be misused in cyber attacks by terrorists.” Commentator Mollie Hemingway warned about ideological control. “He who wins algorithmic control,” she said, “controls the world for the decades to come. That’s really important because these people support censorship.”
These and more voices compete for ears, declaring what AI ought to be. “Ought” is your clue that morality is in play. Indeed, Claude ought to have guidelines, but whose? Quibbles turn into battles over AI alignment based on a priori assumptions about what is good. Such discussions are yet more evidence that we live in a universe created to be moral.
The dysfunction happens when you misalign with the Creator by crafting your own moral framework. “You be you!” sounds so liberating. But those who reject Divine morality for the sake of freedom and reason end up discarding freedom and reason if only to reject the Divine.
Yet there is hope! Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19). By faith you can know Him who is good. One day you will see the convergence of what is and what ought to be, regardless of AI. “According to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). That is good news!
When that day comes, you will have no more concerns about Claude’s alignment.