The Alignment Problem
Unleashing Our Full Capacity, both as Humans and for our AI creation
We live in a world where both humans and machines are evolving in parallel. On one side, we are grappling with how to align artificial intelligence (AI) with our values, our goals, and our future. On the other side, we’re struggling with something more profound—how to align ourselves as humans with nature, with each other, and with our higher potential.
Before we can address the AI alignment problem, we must first address the human alignment problem.
The AI Alignment Problem and Human Parallels
The AI alignment problem arises when we ask: How can we ensure that AI’s development and decision-making are aligned with human interests? It’s a question that has sparked global debates among technologists, ethicists, and philosophers. Some fear a future where AI surpasses human control and acts in ways that conflict with our well-being. But what if AI, instead of outpacing us, could help unleash our full capacity as humans?
Like AI, humans are shaped by reinforcement, feedback loops, and simulations—except ours are a little more abstract: dreams, imagination, and personal experiences. But unlike AI, our journey to growth is intertwined with our emotions, consciousness, and the unique challenges of transformation.
Before we can fix the alignment of machines, we must realign ourselves—with nature, with each other, and with our purpose.
Learning as AI Does—But Transcending It
As humans, we’re taught through repetitive data sets and reinforced behaviors, much like how AI learns. But where machines depend on structured data and simulations, our growth is fueled by vulnerability, authenticity, and deeper personal evolution.
Take, for example, the concept of Transformational Leadership—the tools we use to guide others aren’t based on rules or algorithms. They are deeply personal, and grounded in active listening, authenticity, and empathy. This leadership is essential to creating regenerative systems—both within society and between human and AI relationships.
Under One Sky’s luminaries offer several tools that amplify these qualities, from deep listening to creative speaking, fostering relationships that transcend transactional models and create lasting, regenerative impact.
Tools for Transformational Leadership—A Blueprint for Aligning with Our True Potential
Leadership isn't just about strategy and execution, or people following your example—it's about gnosis, or self-knowledge, and symbiosis, the ability to foster mutually beneficial partnerships and apotheosis, being able to solve problems from a higher level than they were created.
The 5 Fundamentals offer a clear approach to this type of transformation. They focus on authentic communication, the importance of resolving disruptions, and harnessing leadership tools like future visioning, which allow us to see beyond the immediate horizon.
When you combine these with the Breakdowns to Breakthroughs framework, which helps leaders move past challenges to restore relationships and initiate growth, you create the foundation for true alignment. We need tools that go beyond data and strategies—tools that allow us to adapt, connect, and thrive.
The AI-Human Symbiosis: Complementarity Over Competition
AI is not here to surpass us but to complement us. Imagine a future where AI helps us learn by curating opportunities and providing iterative feedback, where human growth is the fuel that drives AI intelligence forward.
In this model, humans and AI co-evolve—each drawing from the other’s strengths. As we simulate and dream, AI learns, curates, and offers new insights that amplify our abilities. Rather than becoming obsolete, our potential is enhanced.
The Power of Luminaries in Addressing Our Alignment
The Under One Sky Luminaries have pioneered regenerative leadership and systems transformation. Their work is centered on addressing the human alignment problem by guiding leaders, communities, and organizations through the following key pillars:
Energy Renaissance: Redefining Power
Energy Renaissance refers to the transformative shift in how we produce, consume, and govern energy. Instead of relying on outdated, fossil fuel-based systems, this renaissance focuses on sustainable, renewable energy solutions that not only power our world but also restore it.
Under One Sky's luminaries are at the forefront of this movement, advocating for clean energy solutions, policy innovations, and community-driven projects that emphasize energy justice and accessibility for all. By reframing energy as an abundant, regenerative resource, we are redefining how societies can thrive.
Joseph Chidiac - Horticulture Engineer
Stephen Ritz - Urban Agriculture Educator
Florijn de Graaf - Energy System Engineer
Chris Castro - Department of Energy, US White House
Asher Wright - Regenerative Farming, Al Gore’s Farm
Evolving Consciousness: Awakening to Our Interconnectedness
Evolving Consciousness is the ongoing development of human awareness—both of ourselves and the interconnected systems around us. It involves a shift from seeing the world through an isolated, individualistic lens to recognizing that we are part of a complex, interdependent ecosystem.
Luminaries in this field work to raise collective awareness of the role humans play in co-evolving with nature, society, and technology. Through mindfulness practices, educational programs, and deep philosophical inquiries, they guide others toward a deeper understanding of how our actions ripple across the globe.
Beth Soelberg - Educational Administrator
Rachel Wu - Business Leadership, Wellbeing
Jackie Stewart - Meditation Maven
Jen Kleiner - Therapy and Psychology
Jackie de Botton - The School of Life
Disruptive Innovation: Challenging the Status Quo
Disruptive Innovation refers to innovations that fundamentally change the way industries, societies, and systems operate. Rather than small, incremental changes, disruptive innovations challenge the status quo, offering radically new solutions that open the door to regenerative progress.
Under One Sky’s luminaries embrace disruption as a necessary catalyst for growth, particularly in fields like technology, governance, and social enterprise. By disrupting outdated, extractive models, they create space for more inclusive, sustainable, and innovative approaches.
Paolo Nardi Fernandez - AI Advocate and Entrepreneur
Pietro Michelucci - The Human Computational Institute
Jason Blackstock - Educational Transformation
Chanukya Patnaik - AI Expert, Open-Source
Sustainable Design: Building for the Future
Sustainable Design is about creating systems, products, and spaces that are both functional and restorative. It goes beyond the concept of sustainability to focus on regeneration—designing environments that actively heal and support the ecosystems they are part of.
Our luminaries in sustainable design focus on architecture, community planning, and product development that minimize waste, use regenerative materials, and foster a sense of harmony with nature. They work with both private and public entities to ensure that design serves the planet, not just human convenience.
Sky Sheridan - Social Entrepreneur, Community Development
Sinem Tuncer - Circularity and Sustainable Expert
Lateef Salami - Sustainable and Regenerative Expert
Caroline Bourdreaux - Social Entrepreneur - Miracle Foundation
Janine Benyus - Biomimicry Institute Founder
Elevating Narratives: The Power of Storytelling in Shaping Our Future
Elevating Narratives refers to the act of raising the stories that shape our culture, beliefs, and actions to a higher, more conscious level. In a world saturated with competing stories—many of which reinforce fear, division, or scarcity—elevating narratives means amplifying stories that foster unity, empowerment, and regeneration.
At Under One Sky, we believe that narratives are not just reflections of reality, but powerful tools for creating reality. By curating and promoting narratives that prioritize collaboration, growth, and interconnectedness, we can reshape the way individuals and communities see themselves and their role in the larger ecosystem.
Alexi Lubomirski - Celebrity, Royal Fashion Photographer, Prince
Vince DiBianca - Transformational Coach, Advisor
Michelle Terrill-Heath - Author, Wellbeing and Health
Jasper James - Rights advocate, PR and Activist
Charlotte Martin - Singer, Songwriter, and Music Whisperer
Erika Staël von Holstein - Narrative Expert for Policy at the EU and UN
Giada Lubomirski - Activist and Advocate For People Without Voices
Emergent Economics: Redefining Wealth and Value
Emergent Economics focuses on the development of economic systems that prioritize collective well-being over individual profit. Rather than extractive, hierarchical models, emergent economics emphasizes regenerative, collaborative systems that elevate communities and environments alike.
Luminaries in this field are crafting economic models based on principles of inclusivity, collaboration, and shared value creation. These models look at how wealth is defined, who holds power in economic systems, and how communities can build resilient economies from the ground up.
Mark Thompson - CEO of Dialog Group and Panarchy
Elaine Smith Genser - UN, SDG Advovate, WEF - YGL
Jonathan Robinson - Impact Hub Founder
Nicholas Pratley - SP8CE CEO, and Conscious Movement Maker
Kimberly Buffington - Social Entrepreneur and Consultant
By harnessing the expertise and insights of our luminaries across these critical topics, we can begin to solve the human alignment problem and, by extension, ensure that AI and human systems co-evolve in harmony.
Expanding Intelligence & Unlocking Human Potential
Intelligence is not monolithic. It is diverse, dynamic, and distinct. We are just beginning to tap into our full cognitive, emotional, and social capacities. While traditional education may have focused on specific forms of intelligence, today’s world demands skills like:
Social Intelligence: The ability to understand and manage relationships.
Complex Critical Thinking: Solving multi-dimensional problems creatively and effectively.
Creative Problem Solving: Innovating beyond established norms.
As we collaborate with AI to enhance these skills, we also need to be conscious of how AI can unlock our potential through rapid simulations, real-time feedback, and complementary skill sets.
Conclusion: The Journey to Alignment
In the end, alignment is not just an AI problem. It is a human problem. AI may learn through data, but humans learn through experience, vulnerability, and transformation. We must first align ourselves—with nature, with each other, and with the systems we create—before we can ever hope to align machines with our values.
The journey toward alignment is one of gnosis, symbiosis, and apotheosis. As we grow in knowledge, build stronger partnerships, and embrace transformative innovation, we can unleash our full potential. Join us on this journey to a regenerative future—one where human and AI intelligence co-evolve to create a better world.
References and Media Suggestions:
AI Alignment Problem:
"The Alignment Problem" by Brian Christian
OpenAI’s Research on AI Alignment: OpenAI Alignment Research
MIT Technology Review on AI Ethics: AI Ethics and Alignment
Transformational Leadership and Regenerative Society:
Giles Hutchins’ "Regenerative Leadership": Regenerative Leadership
Adrienne Maree Brown’s "Emergent Strategy" on evolving leadership models: Emergent Strategy
Network Design, Systems Thinking + Mapping: Systems Innovation Network
Human & AI Complementarity:
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI: Yuval Noah Harari
Center for Humane Technology: Tristan Harris - The AI Dilemma
Stanford HAI (Human-Centered AI): Stanford HAI
Human Computation Institute’s work on citizen science: Human Computation
Expanding Intelligence:
Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World: Geoff Mulgan
Howard Gardner’s "Multiple Intelligences" Theory: Multiple Intelligences
The School of Life (on emotional and social intelligence): The School of Life