David Torabi Presents on Behalf of Darius Torabi at the 2026 The Responsible AI Forum (TRAIF)

On May 19th, 2026, David Torabi presented on behalf of Generative AI, LLMs and Societal Value Alignment track travel grant winner Darius Torabi at the 2026 The Responsible AI Forum (TRAIF) held at Amerikahaus in Munich. During the Philosophical and Technical Foundations of Value Alignment session, Mr. Torabi presented: “Why Shared Values Are Hard to Share”.

abstract excerpt: Aligning artificial intelligence systems with “human values” is often presented as a matter of careful engineering and good governance. The usual solution is quite familiar: compile a list of broadly endorsed desirable values and ensure that AI systems respect said values throughout their life cycle. However, this approach inevitably relies on a shaky presumption that is often overlooked for the sake of simplicity; that is, which human values, if any, can plausibly be treated as shared in a world rightfully characterized by cultural, religious, legal and moral pluralism? Through a series of thought experiments, the project interrogates two dominant alignment strategies. The project’s aim is both deliberately modest and disruptive. It does not attempt to resolve the value alignment problem once and for all, nor to dissolve moral disagreement. Instead, it seeks to clarify the limits of alignment we can reasonably achieve under conditions of persistent pluralism, and to question whether the prevailing rhetoric of shared human values should remain as the gold standard it is often presented as.

The Responsible AI Forum 2026 and travel grants were funded by the European Union. More on alignAI.

Watch a video of the talk below.