Bad humans taking over the world is still better than some inhuman alien optimization process taking over the world.

It's not an either-or. Malicious actors will disregard the guardrails to achieve their objectives, but in the process, they will create that very "inhuman alien optimization process" and give it the keys.

Following the safety techniques should be helpful to the goals of most malicious actors, provided that they prefer being in control over an alien optimizer being in control?

Granted, if the safety/alignment techniques have too large of a cost to capabilities/effectiveness, then said malicious actors might be willing to risk a greater chance of an alien optimizer gaining control if it also means a higher chance of them gaining control.