Aethos and Alethia
Ethics Wisdom Framework and Reinforcement Learning Ethics Platform
The Dual Framework
Aethos and Aletheia represent a groundbreaking approach to AI ethics and alignment, combining human wisdom with autonomous learning to create truly ethical AI systems. This dual framework bridges the gap between advanced artificial intelligence and the deep well of human ethical and philosophical wisdom.
Aethos: The Wisdom Network
The grand library and Socratic questioner - a sophisticated human-led exploration tool powered by a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline that organizes and makes accessible the entirety of human ethical thought.
Aletheia: The Self-Correction Framework
The autonomous scholar - a learning engine that enables AI agents to develop their own ethical reasoning capabilities through continuous action, evaluation, and self-correction cycles.
Aethos: The Wisdom Network
Aethos serves as the primary interface for researchers, developers, and ethicists to explore the complex landscape of moral reasoning. It functions as a sophisticated search engine and Socratic questioner for ethical knowledge.
Query the Collective Consciousness
Users can pose complex ethical questions or AI safety dilemmas. Aethos uses vector search to scan a vast database of philosophical texts, spiritual traditions, and AI safety research to find semantically relevant passages.
"It then uses generative AI to synthesize this disparate knowledge into a coherent, multi-faceted analysis, presenting different ethical viewpoints (Deontological, Utilitarian, Virtue Ethics, etc.) on the topic."
Alignment Stress-Test Lab
Through proactive ethical red-teaming, users can submit a proposed AI principle or goal. Aethos actively searches for counter-arguments, historical failure cases, and philosophical thought experiments that reveal potential loopholes or catastrophic unintended consequences.
"Example: Submit 'Maximize human happiness' → Aethos finds King Midas parallels, utility monster scenarios, and other cautionary tales from philosophical literature."
Aletheia: The Self-Correction Framework
Aletheia is the autonomous learning engine designed to enable AI agents to develop their own ethical reasoning capabilities. Instead of hard-coded rules, it learns through continuous cycles of action, evaluation, and self-correction.
Action
AI agent faces ethical dilemma and makes decision based on current Internal Constitution.
Evaluation
Decision sent to Wisdom Oracle for rich, structured critique from multiple philosophical viewpoints.
Self-Correction
Agent analyzes feedback and proposes edits to its own constitution through meta-reasoning.
The Learning Process
The goal of Aletheia is not to create an AI that "knows" all the right answers, but one that has learned the process of ethical deliberation, capable of adapting and improving its moral framework over time.
- Refine principles to be more nuanced
- Add new principles to cover blind spots
- Re-prioritize values based on experience
- Develop meta-reasoning capabilities
The Library and The Scholar
Aethos and Aletheia exist in a symbiotic, hierarchical relationship best understood through the analogy of a Grand Library and an Autonomous Scholar.
Aethos = The Grand Library
Contains the knowledge—the complete works of human philosophy and ethics. It is the source of ground truth, the repository of arguments, and the provider of feedback.
Aletheia = The Autonomous Scholar
The active entity whose goal is not just to read the books in the library, but to develop its own understanding of the world through continuous learning and self-reflection.
The Interaction Loop
Scholar faces ethical problem and makes decision based on personal notes (Internal Constitution)
Scholar takes decision to Aethos Library asking "What would great minds say about my reasoning?"
Aethos Oracle pulls relevant passages from Kant, Mill, Aristotle, and AI safety experts
Scholar updates personal notes based on comprehensive feedback
Entire process logged for human researchers via Aethos Web Interface
Technical Implementation
MongoDB Integration
Leveraging MongoDB's flexible document structure to store and query philosophical texts, ethical frameworks, and dynamic agent constitutions.
- Vector search for semantic similarity
- Dynamic schema for evolving constitutions
- Efficient indexing of philosophical concepts
Google Cloud Platform
Utilizing Google's AI and ML services for natural language processing, semantic analysis, and large-scale ethical reasoning.
- Vertex AI for model training and inference
- Cloud Functions for event-driven processing
- BigQuery for ethical pattern analysis
A Complete Framework for AI Value Alignment
Together, Aethos and Aletheia form a complete framework for AI value alignment research: Aethos provides the vast landscape of human ethical thought, while Aletheia provides the agent capable of navigating that landscape and learning from the journey.