Bridge Atlas - Episode 4: Alignment | Emmett Shear & Alex Stokes
Duration: 00:56:59
Speaker:
Type: Talk
Expertise:
Event: Devcon
Date: Jul 2026
Artificial intelligence and protocols are evil twins. We invited one guest from each field to talk about alignment, coordination, and the limits of these technologies. What bridges can we build between them to make both better? If one evil twin took over, what would that look like? Emmett Shear is the CEO of Softmax and former CEO of Twitch and OpenAI. Alex Stokes runs protocol coordination for the Ethereum Foundation alongside Tim Beiko, who featured in episode one of Bridge Atlas.
Sign up for Bridge Atlas Day at Devconnect: https://devconnect.org/calendar?event=bridge-atlas
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References
- Emmett's guest talk: https://www.youtube.com/live/yBc7IxHT38M
- Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains: https://stark.mirror.xyz/n2UpRqwdf7yjuiPKVICPpGoUNeDhlWxGqjulrlpyYi0
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00:00 - Intro
01:40 - What is model alignment, really?
05:02 - Coordination of time and people
07:15 - Relativity and stages of alignment
14:25 - Figuring out specialization in alignment
22:37 - The risks of perfect contracts
26:12 - Can you fork a global substrate?
34:00 - A history of contract bugs
40:40 - Alignment floors & ceilings
45:34 - Designing for dynamic alignment
49:55 - Closing thoughts
