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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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The Risks of Abstract Value Anchors in Personal AI Systems: Conceptual Drift and Ethical Misalignment

Authors: Mizutani, Aya;

The Risks of Abstract Value Anchors in Personal AI Systems: Conceptual Drift and Ethical Misalignment

Abstract

Abstract value concepts such as "wellbeing," "safety," and "optimization" are widely used as top-level guiding principles in the design of personal AI systems. While such concepts appear ethically desirable and implementation-agnostic, their high level of abstraction introduces systematic risks of conceptual drift, scope expansion, and unintended ethical distortion. This paper analyzes how abstract value anchors function within personal AI architectures and identifies three core risk patterns: semantic expansion beyond designer intent, progressive reinterpretation through interaction, and loss of constraint through abstraction stacking. By clarifying the structural mechanisms through which abstract values destabilize ethical alignment, this study provides a conceptual risk framework for designers of personal AI systems. The aim is not to reject abstract values, but to highlight the design-level vulnerabilities they introduce when deployed without explicit scope constraints and validation mechanisms.

Keywords

personal AI, AI ethics, value alignment, ,cognitive architecture, abstract values, conceptual drift

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average