The Asilomar AI Principles are 23 voluntary, high-level guidelines for directing AI research and development toward beneficial outcomes. Coordinated by the Future of Life Institute (FLI) in connection with the Beneficial AI 2017 conference, they address research practice, ethics and social values, and longer-term risks from advanced AI.
What the Asilomar AI Principles are
The principles are a named set of guidance, not a technical specification for building AI systems. Their central aim is captured in Principle 1: “The goal of AI research should be to create not undirected intelligence, but beneficial intelligence.” The full text numbers 23 principles and dates their publication to 11 August 2017. FLI’s official Asilomar AI Principles provides the complete wording.
FLI describes the set as “one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles.” That is the institute’s characterization; the cited sources do not independently measure the principles’ influence.
How the 23 principles are organized
| Section | Principles | Main focus |
|---|---|---|
| Research Issues | 1–5 | Beneficial research goals and funding, links between science and policy, cooperation, and avoiding races that could encourage teams to cut safety corners. |
| Ethics and Values | 6–18 | Safety and security; transparency about failures and judicial use; responsibility; value alignment; human values and privacy; shared benefit and prosperity; human control; civic processes; and avoiding an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons. |
| Longer-term Issues | 19–23 | Caution about assumptions regarding future capability limits; the significance and risks of advanced AI; safety and control in recursive self-improvement or self-replication; and service to broadly shared ethical ideals and humanity. |
Where the principles came from
FLI’s account says organizers reviewed reports and a wide range of views about AI’s opportunities and threats, identified areas of overlap, invited suggestions from conference attendees, and substantially revised the list in response before the meeting. FLI’s account of the Asilomar discussion describes that process. It establishes consultation with attendees, not universal agreement or representation of every researcher or community affected by AI.
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What the principles do—and do not—establish
The principles express aspirations for responsible research and development. The cited FLI pages present them as guidance; they do not establish that the principles are binding law, that any particular AI system complies with them, or that following them has produced measurable real-world outcomes. They are best read as a framework for questions and commitments, not as proof that an AI system is safe or beneficial.
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