Steelmanning, I think the argument is that a vindictive but fair AI would not torture someone who did not cooperate with it because they didn't believe the thre

Steelmanning, I think the argument is that a vindictive but fair AI would not torture someone who did not cooperate with it because they didn't believe the threat was real, because they were merely mistaken, not malicious. It's similar to how a just god would not damn sincere unbelievers, it would only damn true believers who nevertheless refuse to worship it.