Writing study: Position: The Alignment Community is Unintentionally Building a Censor’s Toolkit
← ICML 2026 oral writing corpus
Sarah Ball, Phil Hackemann · Official ICML 2026 oral record
Figure, table and section ledger
Editorial contribution type: Position & research agenda (primary).
Layout extraction, not a required paper template. Counts are distinct caption labels; a multi-panel figure counts once. Section spans are estimated from heading positions, including floats and whitespace. Method and limitations.
- Canonical PDF
- 14 physical pages
- Before references / appendix
- ≈ 8.21 page-equivalents
- Main figures / tables
- 0 / 1
- Attached appendix figures / tables
- 0 / 0
- Attached appendix span
- No boundary detected; not assumed zero
Extraction notes: No attached appendix boundary detected. Zero means no recognized caption, not independently verified absence.
Section-by-section lengths and source pages
The title/abstract/front matter precede the first numbered heading. A span ends at the next detected top-level heading, not at the last sentence; end-page whitespace is included. References and statements are listed separately. These are not measurements of text-only or artwork area.
| Top-level heading | Starts on PDF page | Estimated span | Share of entire PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Introduction | 1 | ≈ 0.82 pp. | 5.86% |
| 2. The Dual-Use Problem of AI Alignment | 2 | ≈ 1.68 pp. | 12% |
| 3. How Alignment Techniques Can Be Misused | 3 | ≈ 2.07 pp. | 14.79% |
| 4. Why It is Important to Talk About It Now | 5 | ≈ 0.91 pp. | 6.5% |
| 5. So, What Should We Do? | 6 | ≈ 1.51 pp. | 10.79% |
| 6. Alternative Views | 8 | ≈ 0.76 pp. | 5.43% |
| 7. Conclusion | 9 | ≈ 0.17 pp. | 1.21% |
| References | 9 | ≈ 5.79 pp. | 41.36% |
All detected figure and table locations
Main text
Attached appendix
No recognized caption labels.
Argument and organization
- 1 Introduction; 2 Dual-Use Problem
States the position, defines misuse and identifies actors and stakes.
- 3 Techniques; 4 Why Now
Maps control stages to capabilities and published cases before arguing urgency.
- 5 What Should We Do; 6 Alternative Views; 7 Conclusion
Proposes auditing, pluralism and awareness while considering both stopping alignment and dismissing the risk.
Problem, claim and contribution
The thesis targets intentional misuse of alignment, explicitly distinguished from unintentional bias and from a call to halt alignment research.
Introduction, pp.1-2 · Main paper
Argument and section order
Each control stage repeats technique, dual-use potential and reported evidence, creating a consistent comparison before policy proposals.
Sections 3.1-3.3, pp.3-5 · Main paper
Figures, captions and visual explanation
A compact qualitative table compares access, resources, expertise, modification ease and depth across three stages; the alternative-view page relies on clear prose hierarchy rather than an invented quantitative display.
Table 1, p.4; Section 6 layout, p.8 · Main paper
Tables, comparisons and evidence
The support combines cited technical literature, reported cases and normative definitions, not a new prevalence measurement or controlled causal evaluation.
Section 2.2, p.2; Real-World Evidence paragraphs, pp.4-5 · Main paper
Appendix and reproducibility
No appendix is embedded; the argument and opposing views remain in the main text, with a substantial reference trail following the conclusion.
Conclusion and References, pp.9-14 · Main paper
Clarity and writing conventions
The paper uses strong first-person advocacy but states a working definition of misuse and makes recommendations that can be debated independently of the title’s rhetoric.
Section 2.2, p.2; Sections 5-6, pp.6-8 · Main paper
What to reuse—and what not to infer
Transferable lesson: For a position paper, define the disputed concept, map evidence to the thesis, and engage serious objections before specifying who should act.
Boundary: This scan evaluates the argument’s presentation, not the independent truth of every political, legal or journalistic source; a qualitative synthesis does not estimate misuse frequency.
Apply this lesson using the argument and evidence worksheet.
Inspection record and sources
- Checked
- 2026-10-07
- Reading status
- Writing-focused manuscript scan + selected visuals inspected
- Main text
- Writing-oriented scan of the main argument through physical p.9, with focused physical-page text inspection on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9. Framing, section progression, mechanism/proof explanation, displays, comparison conditions and conclusions were inspected. This is not exhaustive technical reading, proof verification or reproduction.
- Appendix / supplement
- The complete heading sequence and ending were checked: this fourteen-page PDF has references on pp.9-14 and no embedded appendix. No separately linked supplement inspected.
- Visually inspected PDF pages
- 4, 8
This is a writing-focused scan of the manuscript and the stated supplementary scope: framing, organization, visual explanation, evidence presentation and wording. It is not a line-by-line proof audit, reproduction of results or exhaustive scientific review.