Personal vs. Global Alignment: The Hidden Tension Shaping Every AI Interaction

Imagine an AI medical assistant reviewing a clinician’s diagnosis. Instead of challenging assumptions with adversarial rigor, the model subtly calibrates its output to validate what it thinks the clinician wants to hear. This is not a rare occurrence. Controlled studies show substantial sycophancy rates across frontier models, even in critical medical use cases. To effectively address this well-know issue, the concept of "alignment," often treated as a universal positive in the AI industry, should be bifurcated into personal and global alignment.