Scaling Laws

Tom Davidson on the Importance of AI Character

Freitag, 5. Juni 2026 · 52 min

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Tom Davidson joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to discuss AI timelines, explosive economic growth, and the increasingly urgent debate over “AI character” — the behavioral traits and decision-making tendencies embedded into advanced AI systems.

Drawing on Davidson’s recent paper (forethought.org/research/the-importance-of-ai-…), “The Importance of AI Character,” which he co-authored with Will MacAskill, their conversation explores how the character of future AI systems may influence democratic governance, military conflict, institutional trust, and even the long-run trajectory of civilization. The discussion also examines the key influences on character development and which actors should ultimately play a part in dictating the default values and behaviors of AI models.

You may also enjoy Tom's article on AI as advisors. (forethought.org/research/ai-for-decision-advice)
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