Altared Environments: The Role of Normative Infrastructure in AI Alignment
Keywords: Instituions, Norms, Cooperative AI, Multi-agent Systems, Reinforcement Learning, Alignment
TL;DR: Normative Institutions can play a key role in driving alignment and fostering cooperation in AI Agents
Abstract: Cooperation is central to human societies, which they achieve by constantly tack-
ling the alignment problem of ensuring self-interested individuals act in ways that
benefit the groups in which they live. As AI agents become pervasive in shared
environments, it will be similarly crucial for them to align with the cooperative
goals of human groups. Current AI alignment research largely focuses on em-
bedding specified or learned norms into agents to achieve this cooperation. While
valuable, this approach overlooks the role that institutions play in aligning human
behavior to achieve cooperative gains and thus overlooks a potential alignment
technique for AI agents. We address this gap by proposing Altared Games, a
novel formal extension of Markov games that incorporates an altar—a classification institution providing explicit normative guidance to agents. Our approach focuses on a challenging setting where norms are dynamic, thereby requiring agents
to adapt to the evolving norm content represented by the altar. Using multi-agent
reinforcement learning (MARL) as a computational model of AI agents, we con-
duct experiments in two mixed-motive environments: Commons Harvest, which
models resource sustainability, and Allelopathic Harvest, which involves coordination under conflicting incentives. Our results demonstrate that the altar enables
agents to adapt effectively to dynamic norms, engage in accurate sanctioning, and
achieve higher social welfare compared to systems without a classification institution. These findings highlight the importance of normative institutions in fostering
cooperative, adaptable AI agents operating in complex real-world settings.
Primary Area: alignment, fairness, safety, privacy, and societal considerations
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Submission Number: 12670
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