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Three Laws of Robotics

Before you turn it all over to AI: Why the Laws of Robotics fail

Jonathan Bartlett, Eric Holloway, and Brendan Dixon explain: Prolific science and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) developed the Three Laws of Robotics, in the hope of guarding against potentially dangerous artificial intelligence. They first appeared in his 1942 short story Runaround: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Asimov fans tell us that the laws were implicit in his earlier stories. A 0th law was added Read More ›