"Cognitive Security as an AI Safety Cause Area" by jsteinhardt

"Cognitive Security as an AI Safety Cause Area" by jsteinhardt

From LessWrong (Curated & Popular) by LessWrong

May 27, 2026 · 5 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the risks to human cognitive security posed by advanced AI systems.

As AI systems become more capable, the cognitive security of humans will be increasingly at risk. By cognitive security, I mean the ability of humans to maintain control over their beliefs and actions. Cognitive security could be compromised in several ways: AI could become very good at persuading people of arbitrary positions; interacting with AI could lead humans to lose touch with reality; and AIs could become very effective at blackmail or at producing extremely convincing false inform...

People in this episode

Guest: jsteinhardt

Topics covered

  • AI safety
  • cognitive security
  • persuasion
  • human beliefs
  • reality perception

Keywords

  • AI
  • cognitive security
  • persuasion
  • beliefs
  • reality
  • blackmail
  • false information

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