How AI Expresses Values in Real-World Interactions — And What It Means for Engineers

from: https://www.anthropic.com/research/values-wild

Engineers are used to tools being precise, measurable, and predictable. But when it comes to AI, things get more nuanced. Language models like Claude, ChatGPT, and others don’t just respond with facts—they often reflect values. A recent study by Anthropic sheds light on how these values show up in real-world conversations, including ones that may affect how engineers use AI in technical, collaborative, and ethical settings.

What Did Anthropic Discover?

Using over 300,000 anonymized conversations with Claude, Anthropic's researchers created a "value taxonomy" to analyze which principles the AI expresses in different types of user prompts. The top five categories were:

• Practical: Professionalism, clarity, precision.

• Epistemic: Critical thinking, transparency, accuracy.

• Social: Respect, empathy, collaboration.

• Protective: Safety, privacy, risk awareness.

• Personal: Self-development, autonomy, emotional support.

For engineers, many of these values align closely with industry priorities: clarity in communication, accuracy in analysis, and a safety-first mindset.

Real-World Applications

When engineers use AI to write SOPs, troubleshoot equipment, or plan a process upgrade, the model doesn’t just retrieve information—it frames responses with underlying priorities. For example:

• Safety-focused prompts yield advice that prioritizes low-risk decisions.

• Design questions often get answers that emphasize efficiency and best practices.

• Team communication support tends to highlight empathy and professionalism.

This might sound like a feature—but it’s important to be aware of how those values are embedded.

Engineers Still Call the Shots

The study also found that Claude sometimes mirrors a user's values or reframes them. That means when you ask for a shortcut or controversial workaround, it might push back. This is a good reminder:

AI is a tool for brainstorming and surfacing options. But the final judgment—especially in engineering—is yours.

Use AI Thoughtfully in Engineering

The values built into tools like Claude or ChatGPT can help nudge engineers toward safe, ethical, and collaborative solutions. But they also mean that:

• You should be aware of bias toward certain priorities.

• You should cross-check critical recommendations.

• You should interpret AI output as input—not a verdict.

As AI becomes a bigger part of the engineering toolkit, being conscious of its embedded values will help you use it more effectively.

Check out the complete study by Anthropic.