Is It Possible To Avoid A Robot Rebellion?

ROBOT OVERLORDS roll, stomp, and fly through movies and comic books.

- Kathryn Hulick

In these stories, humans have lost control over the fearsome metal menaces we created. When it comes to developing robots or artificial intelligence, maintaining control is extremely important. In a short story published in 1942, sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov imagined three laws of robotics: a robot can’t hurt a person or allow a person to get hurt. It must obey people. And it must protect itself.

These laws sound good, but in practice they don’t work so well. The robot in the story got stuck in a loop of indecision when it realized that following its orders would put itself and humans in danger. We want robots to do as they are told, but we also want them to be smart and capable.