An ever-increasing number of AI ethicists can enumerate the most prominent risks; yet startlingly few psychologists, or other experts in behavioral science, are working on the project of aligning AI outcomes with fundamental ethical and safety principles. This knowledge gap is striking given the extraordinary investments being channeled into the technology’s ability to master and influence human behavior. In neglecting more than a century of relevant behavioral research, the ethical AI community has left a human-shaped hole that weakens ethics-implementation and oversight proposals, jeopardizing the future of the project. I am embarking on a qualitative study to help delineate best practices in applying behavioral science to policies that will increase the likelihood AI’s evolving uptake aligns with fundamental ethical principles.