Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control

Stuart Russell's 2019 book is the clearest technical statement of why AI alignment is a genuine research problem, written by the author of the standard AI textbook. Russell argues that the conventional model of AI — specify an objective, build a system that maximises it — is fundamentally broken because it is impossible to fully specify human values in a machine-readable form. His proposed alternative: AI systems designed to be uncertain about human preferences and to seek human input rather than act autonomously on assumed objectives. Required reading before engaging with EU AI Act human oversight requirements — the regulation's language reflects precisely the concerns Russell articulates.

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