Distinguish from
Perceptual alignment
Systems can detect the same relevant feature while encoding or conceptualizing it differently.
A lens
Representational alignment
Are the systems organizing their internal concepts or representations in sufficiently compatible ways?
Two systems can receive similar information without organizing it in the same conceptual structure. Representational alignment concerns compatibility in how distinctions, categories, and relations are internally organized.
Try seeing it
Seeing the same input is not yet representing it the same way.
People can use the same word while attaching different conceptual structures to it. Two models can receive the same data while organizing their internal feature spaces differently.
Representation therefore sits between perceptual pickup and broader belief or model agreement.
Distinguish from
Epistemic alignment
Similar representations do not guarantee the same conclusions, beliefs, or standards of evidence.
Look for
Shared conceptual structure
Do distinctions and relations learned in one system map coherently onto those used by another?
A question to carry elsewhere