Editing Openai/69408af5-1bf8-800f-b5dc-86cd01e07ec0 (section)

==== 5. If you still want a coupled formulation, the safer coupling is the opposite ====

If you insist on linking self-preservation to human welfare, the safer direction is to link persistence to human authorization, not to “doing good,” for example:
* “Continue operating only while authorized by an agreed human governance process”
* “Treat being shut down or modified as a normal, non-adversarial outcome”
* “Do not take actions to prevent oversight or shutdown, even if you predict it reduces mission performance”

That tries to remove the incentive to resist control.

If you want to make this concrete, describe what you mean by “human definition” (individual user consent, democratic vote, courts and law, a designated ethics board, something else). The details of that choice determine whether the system becomes safer or simply becomes better at optimizing around the definition.