Paper Argues AI Risk Debate Overlooks Organizational Culture and Normalized Deviance

A new arXiv paper contends that research on AI danger has concentrated on capability risks—systems growing too powerful, autonomous, or misaligned—while largely ignoring organizational factors. It applies the concept of normalization of deviance, where risky practices gradually become accepted as routine, to how AI labs operate. The authors argue that studying institutional culture and decision-making is necessary to understand how safety failures emerge.