AGI Institutions

New institutions needed for a world with powerful AI

Scale ↓→ Basis	Protocolsstandards & coordination	Preferencesaggregated wants	Rightsformal entitlements & adjudication	Incentivesstructured payoffs	Expertisecredentialed epistemic authority	Normsbehavioral expectations	Thick Commitmentsarticulated shared understanding
Dyadic2 parties	Mandate-making practices between parties	Agent negotiation & bargainingSurfacing values, not just positions, in negotiation	Agent-agent mediation	Agent-to-agent contractsConfidence-staked bilateral contracts	Apprenticeships that transmit institutional purpose	Tacit norms for agent interactions	Agent-agent vowsVows grounded in thick mutual commitments
Groupteams, clubs	Coordination protocols across the human-agent cadence gap	Deliberative value elicitation for group decisions	Autonomous corp bylaws & grievance boardsInternal resolution of charter-breach disputes	Human-Outcome Contracts & BountiesInternal rewards that track mandate		Informal practices that keep purpose alive	Substantive organizational charters
Communityorgs, cities	Institutional transparency regimes	Market design for societies of agentsOutcome-specified procurement markets	Public-interest claims in local courts	AI commons management	Sabbatical programs for senior practitioners	Professional norms for agentsLay review panels on the jury-duty model	Mission-driven agent orgsCovenants binding intentional communities
Nationalstates, nations	Shared standards for mandate articulation	Agents that represent national interests / large groupsDeliberative processes as supplement to elections	Agents that adjudicate rightsConstitutional justiciability of institutional purpose	State procurement via socialized pools	AI regulatory agencies & regulator-anticipationMandate literacy in professional training	AIs that follow and update the lawStandards for institutional AI deployments	Substantive constitutions & AI alignment docsConstitutions with substantive value content
Globaltransnational	Translating institutional mandates across jurisdictions	Deliberative aggregation of global preferences	International tribunals for institutional accountability	Global markets that keep human interests central		Geopolitical supernegotiationReputational accountability across borders
Methodsdesign practices	Protocol designStandards developmentInteroperability testing	Electoral system designAuction designPreference elicitationDeliberative process designGenerative social choice	Constitutional designDispute system designLegislative draftingComparative institutional analysis	Mechanism designMarket designMatching market designMetrology	Accreditation	Regulatory designLegislative draftingModels of normative reasoningModels of norm learning	Values articulation methodsHermeneuticsCase canon designAlignment writingModels of values-based reasoningThick models of value