Positive AI: Key Challenges in Designing Artificial Intelligence for Wellbeing

Abstract: AI is a double-edged sword: on one hand, AI promises to provide great advances that could benefit humanity, but on the other hand, AI poses substantial (even existential) risks. With advancements happening daily, many people are increasingly worried about AI's impact on their lives. To ensure AI progresses beneficially, some researchers have proposed "wellbeing" as a key objective to govern AI. This article addresses key challenges in designing AI for wellbeing. We group these challenges into issues of modeling wellbeing in context, assessing wellbeing in context, designing interventions to improve wellbeing, and maintaining AI alignment with wellbeing over time. The identification of these challenges provides a scope for efforts to help ensure that AI developments are aligned with human wellbeing.