Could governmental investments help with AI alignment?

A government program could spend orders of magnitude more funds than private philanthropy. This might allow a whole new class of research programs to be considered, such as projects where even a billion dollars is not enough.

Some have also suggested that a government sponsored program like the Manhattan Project could be helpful for coordination, though others question whether the situations are analogous.

While many support the idea of government funding for AI alignment projects, there is some debate about whether government funding could be harmful if, for instance, it served to distort research incentives, lock in certain research directions, or attract bad actors through increasing the prestige and money available to those in the field.