One very important consideration is whether they hold values that they believe are universalist, or merely locally appropriate.
For example, a Chinese AI might believe the following: “Confucianist thought is very good for Chinese people living in China. People in other countries can have their own worse philosophies, and that is fine so long as they aren’t doing any harm to China, its people or its interests. Those idiots could probably do better by copying China, but frankly it might be better if they stick to their barbarian ways so that they remain too weak to pose a threat.”
Now, the USA AI thinks: “Democracy is good. Not just for Americans living in America, but also for everyone living anywhere. Even if they never interact ever again with America or its allies the Taliban are still a problem that needs solving. Their ideology needs to be confronted, not just ignored and left to fester.”
The sort of thing America says it stands for is much more appealing to me than a lot of what the Chinese government does. (I like the government being accountable to the people it serves—which of course entails democracy, a free press and so on). But, my impression is that American values are held to be Universal Truths, not uniquely American idiosyncratic features, which makes the possibility of the maximally bad outcome (worldwide domination by a single power) higher.
One very important consideration is whether they hold values that they believe are universalist, or merely locally appropriate.
For example, a Chinese AI might believe the following: “Confucianist thought is very good for Chinese people living in China. People in other countries can have their own worse philosophies, and that is fine so long as they aren’t doing any harm to China, its people or its interests. Those idiots could probably do better by copying China, but frankly it might be better if they stick to their barbarian ways so that they remain too weak to pose a threat.”
Now, the USA AI thinks: “Democracy is good. Not just for Americans living in America, but also for everyone living anywhere. Even if they never interact ever again with America or its allies the Taliban are still a problem that needs solving. Their ideology needs to be confronted, not just ignored and left to fester.”
The sort of thing America says it stands for is much more appealing to me than a lot of what the Chinese government does. (I like the government being accountable to the people it serves—which of course entails democracy, a free press and so on). But, my impression is that American values are held to be Universal Truths, not uniquely American idiosyncratic features, which makes the possibility of the maximally bad outcome (worldwide domination by a single power) higher.