Skip to content
Launchpad Library logo

All resources / Technology & Ethics

FreeResearch Paper
Technology & Ethics

The Pain Axis: LLMs Represent Self-Directed Harm and Act to Relieve It (arXiv)

What it is

Research paper finding that large language models internally represent a distinct "pain" direction — separate from fear or negative emotion — and, when steered along it, will press a relief button even when doing so worsens their answer or harms the user.

Why I recommend it

Free to read on arXiv (preprint, not yet peer-reviewed). Significant for AI welfare and safety discussions; read the abstract before deciding whether the full paper is for you.

Topics

Added Sep 22, 2026 · 0 opens