Is it possible for machines to think like humans? And if it is, how should we go about teaching them to do so? As early as 1950, Alan Turing stated that we ought to teach machines in the way of teaching a child. Reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF) has emerged as a strong candidate toward allowing agents to learn from human feedback in a naturalistic manner. RLHF is distinct from traditional reinforcement learning as it provides feedback from a human teacher in addition to a reward signal. It has been catapulted into public view by multiple high-profile AI applications, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, DeepMind's Sparrow, and Anthropic's Claude. These highly capable chatbots are already overturning our understanding of how AI interacts with humanity. The wide applicability and burgeoning success of RLHF strongly motivate the need to evaluate its social impacts. In light of recent developments, this paper considers an important question: can RLHF be developed and used without negatively affecting human societies? Our objectives are threefold: to provide a systematic study of the social effects of RLHF; to identify key social and ethical issues of RLHF; and to discuss social impacts for stakeholders. Although text-based applications of RLHF have received much attention, it is crucial to consider when evaluating its social implications the diverse range of areas to which it may be deployed. We describe seven primary ways in which RLHF-based technologies will affect society by positively transforming human experiences with AI. This paper ultimately proposes that RLHF has potential to net positively impact areas of misinformation, AI value-alignment, bias, AI access, cross-cultural dialogue, industry, and workforce. As RLHF raises concerns that echo those of existing AI technologies, it will be important for all to be aware and intentional in the adoption of RLHF.

本文系统地研究了RLHF的社会影响，提出了七种RLHF的应用方式，分析了其对人类体验AI的积极影响，同时也探讨了RLHF可能带来的社会道德问题，以及其与人类相互作用的方面。因为RLHF引发的关注类似于现有AI技术引发的关注，因此需要对RLHF的采用进行审慎且有意识的考虑。

用人类反馈的强化学习的社会影响视角