title: Societal Alignment Frameworks Can Improve LLM Alignment
summary: Recent progress in large language models (LLMs) has focused on producing
  responses that meet human expectations and align with shared values - a process
  coined alignment. However, aligning LLMs remains challenging due to the
  inherent disconnect between the complexity of human values and the narrow
  nature of the technological approaches designed to address them. Current
  alignment methods often lead to misspecified objectives, reflecting the broader
  issue of incomplete contracts, the impracticality of specifying a contract
  between a model developer, and the model that accounts for every scenario in
  LLM alignment. In this paper, we argue that improving LLM alignment requires
  incorporating insights from societal alignment frameworks, including social,
  economic, and contractual alignment, and discuss potential solutions drawn from
  these domains. Given the role of uncertainty within societal alignment
  frameworks, we then investigate how it manifests in LLM alignment. We end our
  discussion by offering an alternative view on LLM alignment, framing the
  underspecified nature of its objectives as an opportunity rather than perfect
  their specification. Beyond technical improvements in LLM alignment, we discuss
  the need for participatory alignment interface designs.
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7297d
paper_authors.name: Karolina Stańczak
paper_authors.status: extracted_confirmed
paper_authors.statusLastChangedAt: 2025-03-05T22:06:13.315Z
paper_authors._id: 60a66731e1db8bc33b8d4112
paper_authors.avatarUrl: https://cdn-avatars.huggingface.co/v1/production/uploads/60a66731e1db8bc33b8d4112/AY5Y0CnHh08u6lfEoQ6se.jpeg
paper_authors.fullname: Karolina Stanczak
paper_authors.type: user
paper_authors.user: Karolina
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7297e
paper_authors.name: Nicholas Meade
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7297f
paper_authors.name: Mehar Bhatia
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72980
paper_authors.name: Hattie Zhou
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72981
paper_authors.name: Konstantin Böttinger
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72982
paper_authors.name: Jeremy Barnes
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72983
paper_authors.name: Jason Stanley
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72984
paper_authors.name: Jessica Montgomery
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72985
paper_authors.name: Richard Zemel
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72986
paper_authors.name: Nicolas Papernot
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72987
paper_authors.name: Nicolas Chapados
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72988
paper_authors.name: Denis Therien
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b72989
paper_authors.name: Timothy P. Lillicrap
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7298a
paper_authors.name: Ana Marasović
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7298b
paper_authors.name: Sylvie Delacroix
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7298c
paper_authors.name: Gillian K. Hadfield
paper_authors._id: 67c89f164e249cdfb8b7298d
paper_authors.name: Siva Reddy
paper_title: Societal Alignment Frameworks Can Improve LLM Alignment
paper_summary: Recent progress in large language models (LLMs) has focused on producing
  responses that meet human expectations and align with shared values - a process
  coined alignment. However, aligning LLMs remains challenging due to the
  inherent disconnect between the complexity of human values and the narrow
  nature of the technological approaches designed to address them. Current
  alignment methods often lead to misspecified objectives, reflecting the broader
  issue of incomplete contracts, the impracticality of specifying a contract
  between a model developer, and the model that accounts for every scenario in
  LLM alignment. In this paper, we argue that improving LLM alignment requires
  incorporating insights from societal alignment frameworks, including social,
  economic, and contractual alignment, and discuss potential solutions drawn from
  these domains. Given the role of uncertainty within societal alignment
  frameworks, we then investigate how it manifests in LLM alignment. We end our
  discussion by offering an alternative view on LLM alignment, framing the
  underspecified nature of its objectives as an opportunity rather than perfect
  their specification. Beyond technical improvements in LLM alignment, we discuss
  the need for participatory alignment interface designs.