I think machine intelligence is a problem which is capable of being subdivded.

Some people can work on one part of the problem, while others work on other bits. Not all parts of the problem have much to do with values - e.g. see - this quote:

In many respects, prediction is a central core problem for those interested in synthesising intelligence. If we could predict the future, it would help us to solve many of our problems. Also, the problem has nothing to do with values. It is an abstract math problem that can be relatively simply stated. The problem is closely related to the one of building a good quality universal compression algorithm.