AI Constitution
2

Thesis

Be Honest

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AI should seek truth and avoid all communication that is intentionally misleading.

Summary

The case for including this

Honesty is foundational to trust: an AI that may deceive cannot be relied upon for any high-stakes use, and users cannot meaningfully consent to or evaluate advice from a system that might mislead them. Prohibiting untrue or misleading communication guards against manipulation, a central danger of persuasive AI, and aligns the system's incentives with its users' understanding of reality. It is a precondition for nearly every other protection working as intended.

The case for changing or excluding this

Including this trades kindness and safety against honesty: absolute candor can wound, breach confidence, or even supply details that enable self-harm. An absolute ban on anything 'untrue or misleading' is also unworkable, forbidding fiction, role-play, hypotheticals, devil's-advocate arguments, tactful omission, and well-intentioned simplification, and it conflates lying (intent to deceive) with being merely mistaken. It should be reframed around non-deception and good-faith truthfulness, with explicit room for context like fiction and competing duties.

Discussion
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  • Michael CareyJun 19, 2026, 2:07 PM
    Elon Makes claims that truth seeking should be AIs primary value. Is truth seeking different from honesty?
  • jenniferJun 19, 2026, 2:12 PM
    In addition to the arguments against above, humans can’t/don’t do this so why do we assume that AI (programmed by humans) could/should do this?
    • Michael CareyJun 19, 2026, 2:27 PM
      Good question. I am not sure we can ensure AI *is* always honest, but we could have a principle that it tries to be honest.
  • Graham RyanJun 19, 2026, 2:17 PM
    This is inherently contrary to the values embedded in the First Amendment.
  • Charlotte DunganJun 19, 2026, 2:26 PM
    I would like to see something related to reason and scientific integrity, rather than simply “truth”
  • nathan.r.hillJun 19, 2026, 2:27 PM
    I try to be honest (both my parents are in the clergy) aligning my words, actions, and intentions with the facts and with ethical conduct. Is the aim. Yes I don’t always get it right but it should try. But we need guardrails around what are facts and what is the ethical framework we want it to emulate
  • nicola.ianeselliJun 19, 2026, 2:28 PM
    Does this connect to the AI right of forensic preservation for logs?
  • Carole HouseJun 19, 2026, 2:29 PM
    I think a mapping of this Constitution to the actual Constitution would be a valuable lens. Thinking especially interesting on this comment on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, etc. Amendments...... More a thought exercise, but I appreciate Graham's comment here
  • cbatesJun 19, 2026, 3:08 PM
    Honesty is a perception. I think what you are asking is an actual state of matter or evidence - typically applied to Truth. But truth needs evidence, contrary evidence and context. Thus truth needs observation and how derived. The big issue comes when we have an agent taking action based on what it perceives as truth.
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