Alignment as Institutional Design: From Behavioral Correction to Transaction Structure in Intelligent Systems
Current AI alignment paradigms rely on behavioral correction: external supervisors (e.g., RLHF) observe outputs, judge against preferences, and adjust parameters. This paper argues that behavioral correction is structurally analogous to an economy without property rights, where order requires perpetual policing and does not scale. Drawing on institutional economics (Coase, Alchian, Cheung), capability mutual exclusivity, and competitive cost discovery, we propose alignment as institutional design: the designer specifies internal transaction structures (module boundaries, competition topologies, cost-feedback loops) such that aligned behavior emerges as the lowest-cost strategy for each co...
| Authors | Rui Chai |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.CY |
| Published | 23 March 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 23 March 2026 |
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