AISN #48: Utility Engineering and EnigmaEval

<p> Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required. Listen to the AI Safety Newsletter for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.</p><p> In this newsletter, we explore two recent papers from CAIS. We’d also like to highlight that CAIS is hiring for editorial and writing roles, including for a new online platform for journalism and analysis regarding AI's impacts on national security, politics, and economics.</p><p><strong> Utility Engineering</strong></p><p> A common view is that large language models (LLMs) are highly capable but fundamentally passive tools, shaping their responses based on training data without intrinsic goals or values. However, a new paper from the Center for AI Safety challenges this assumption, showing that LLMs exhibit coherent and structured value systems.</p><p> Structured preferences emerge with scale. The paper introduces Utility Engineering, a framework for analyzing and controlling AI [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:26) Utility Engineering</p><p>(04:48) EnigmaEval</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> February 18th, 2025 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/ai-safety-newsletter-48-utility-engineering?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/ai-safety-newsletter-48-utility-engineering</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Want more? Check out our <a href="https://newsletter.mlsafety.org/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Episode+description+footer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">ML Safety Newsletter</a> for technical safety research.</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=center_for_ai_safety&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f8e4ae6-7a37-4377-9f3d-a41efb1cbd7b_1072x782.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f8e4ae6-7a37-4377-9f3d-a41efb1cbd7b_1072x782.jpeg" alt="undefined" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe67fb642-4cce-463b-aed5-26777d393977_1600x588.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe67fb642-4cce-463b-aed5-26777d393977_1600x588.jpeg" alt="undefined" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ea44b62-5e2b-43de-b9de-02ee70db25ef_1600x576.png" target="_blank"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ea44b62-5e2b-43de-b9de-02ee70db25ef_1600x576.png" alt="undefined" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fbfb7e4-413d-4552-ad61-2dd0ccd7d309_1600x1223.png" target="_blank"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fbfb7e4-413d-4552-ad61-2dd0ccd7d309_1600x1223.png" alt="undefined" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>