Science & Tech One effort to safeguard humanity: AI ‘constitutions’ Neerav Kingsland (left), Jordi Weinstock, Jack Cushman, and Mahzarin Banaji. Photo by Grace DuVal Max Larkin Harvard Staff Writer September 21, 2026 8 min read Berkman Klein Center heard calls to keep models ‘honest, helpful, harmless.’ It’s a work in progress. In one formulation, any human constitution is just a set of guardrails to prevent the misuse of power. As Thomas Jefferson put it in 1798, “Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.” The intervening 228 years have shown the chains of the U.S. Constitution to leave room for various kinds of human misch...