Shear: Instructing an AI provides a goal description, not a true goal
Emmett Shear · Emmett Shear on Building AI That Actually Cares: Beyond Control and Steering · Nov 17, 2025 · at 13:27
Softmax CEO Emmett Shear explains to podcast co-host Seb Krier why passing textual instructions to AI models provides goal descriptions rather than direct internal goals.
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“You didn't give the AI a goal. You gave the AI a description of a goal. A description of a thing and a thing are not the same.”
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