Dear all,
The CEU Department of Cognitive Science invites you to the following talk:
Sophie
Bridgers<https://scsb.mit.edu/sophie-bridgers-phd/> (MIT, Harvard)
Loopholes: A window into goal communication and value alignment
Finding and exploiting a loophole, a possible but unintended interpretation of a rule or
request, is a familiar facet of fable, law, and everyday life. A child may respond to
their parent who says “It’s time to put the tablet down” by continuing to play with the
tablet after physically putting it down on the floor. Engaging with loopholes requires a
nuanced understanding of goals, social ambiguity, and value alignment and offers a new
lens through which to examine human communication and cooperation. In this talk, I will
first present a proposal for a formal framework of goal communication that supports
intentional misunderstandings. Second, I will share a series of experiments with children
and adults that (1) reveal that loophole behavior emerges around age five and is prevalent
and diverse in parent-child and adult-adult interactions, and (2) indicate that adults and
children evaluate loopholes more leniently than outright non-compliance, as well as
predict that others will exploit loopholes when there is a pressure to cooperate but goals
are in conflict. I will conclude with a discussion of the development of loophole
behavior, and its implications for improving communication among humans, as well as for
safer human-AI interactions.
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Time: 4 pm (to 5:30 pm) CET
Venue: Online, Zoom meeting 969 2496
5784<https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/96924965784?pwd=c2duZ0dDMFdEMUthK2Mwa2wzMllEUT09><https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/96924965784?pwd=c2duZ0dDMFdEMUthK2Mwa2wzMllEUT09>,
pw: 471712
Chair: Barbu Revencu
Let me know if you would like to schedule a meeting with Sophie.
Best,
Barbu
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