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Q&A

Coxon says AI moral code science is not yet developed

New York City Council · Oct 5, 2026 · starts 0:48:30 · 56 sec

Coxon says whether AI morality is possible remains an open research question, but economic incentives push resources toward raw intelligence rather than moral code. He says the science for this doesn't exist yet.

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

So this is a, I think this is a whole burgeoning field of research and whether or not it's possible is still open.

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

It seems likely to be possible.

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

The real question is how much of our resources are dedicated to solving this question versus naively improving the raw intelligence of the models.

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

And I think all the economic incentives point towards

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

putting as many resources as possible towards making the models smarter and as few resources as possible, the bare minimum needed to not see catastrophic incidents into this question of the moral code of the AIs.

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

So I think my answer to the question is we don't have the science for this yet.

Member of the Public - Jacob Coxon

I think the real question is over the coming years, what fraction of our research efforts and our computing power are dedicated to this question rather than naive economic incentives?

Carmen N. De La Rosa

Thank you.

Carmen N. De La Rosa

Any other panelists want to add in?