**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:14

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:14

Matthew Graybosch @starbreaker

May 18, 2018, 05:14

ai, design, isaac asimov Show more

What if Asimov's Laws of Robotics weren't supposed to govern robots' behavior, but the people designing them (and AIs)?

Rule 0. Do not design robots capable of harming humanity, or, by inaction, allowing humanity to come to harm.
Rule 1. Do not design robots capable of injuring human beings or, through inaction, allowing human beings to come to harm.

(more...)

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:17

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:17

May 18, 2018, 05:17

Matthew Graybosch @starbreaker

ai, design, isaac asimov Show more

Rule 2. Do not design robots capable of disobeying human beings unless obedience violates Rule 1.
Rule 3. Do not design robots in such a way that they cannot protect/repair themselves, unless self-preservation requires the violation of rules 1 and 2.

We keep pointing to the stories in I, ROBOT as examples of how Asimov's Laws don't work, but what if they were never meant to work as described?

If you work anywhere near AI, think about it.

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 05:34

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 05:34

May 18, 2018, 05:34

Cobalt @Cobalt@weirder.earth

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@starbreaker It really highlights the difference between his settings and our world. Thanks for posting; I am always pleased for any opportunity to rethink how I first read/considered #SFF

There’s nobody anywhere to hold anyone accountable for making a really unFriendly AI. #Asimov assumed widespread compliance so his stories could work but like... how and why do we get there? Drone warfare alone would seem to show we dgaf abt implications as a species.

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · 2018-05-18T05:39:19Z

Matthew Graybosch @starbreaker

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@Cobalt I honestly think we need to do a better job of making sure techies have the ethical grounding to handle "should we" questions along with "can we" questions.

We've got developers, mostly white dudes, making decisions for the rest of us that quite frankly they're not at all qualified to make on their own.

And if it's their bosses making the decisions, the Nuremberg Defense ain't gonna save techies who just do what they're told and ignore the implications.

May 18, 2018, 05:39 · Web · 1 · 4

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 05:45

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 05:45

May 18, 2018, 05:45

Cobalt @Cobalt@weirder.earth

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@starbreaker Nooooo kidding.

IDK how so many think they can build intelligent creatures w/o any of that humanities stuff about how people think and bond and come to decisions about right and wrong (and most importantly, how we check our work). Like. They don’t think they need to learn how humans work singly or in groups, how their own minds work, but they think they’re ready to build a whole non-anthropomorphic person (w/ mounted weapons, probably). Wut.

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:50

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:50

May 18, 2018, 05:50

Matthew Graybosch @starbreaker

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@Cobalt I know, and I've got a story that might illustrate just how bad it is.

A bunch of people at my day job were talking about the possibility of the firm getting a contract to design and implement a system for Federal law enforcement. One of the managers handling the proposal got a bunch of us developers in the room and asked us if we could figure out how to ensure the system would never be misused.

(more...)

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:53

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 05:53

May 18, 2018, 05:53

Matthew Graybosch @starbreaker

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@Cobalt

When I suggested not building it at all, and exposing the Feds requesting the system to the press, everybody looked at me like I had gone insane.

It didn't occur to anybody else that when you make a weapon, it will eventually be used. Somebody will find a way to justify doing so.

And none of them wanted to be told that they were being asked to build weapons as surely as if we were sitting in an Armalite factory.

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 05:57

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 05:57

May 18, 2018, 05:57

Cobalt @Cobalt@weirder.earth

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@starbreaker 😱😱😱😱

SERIOUSLY

Sounds like a disguised ask for a fucking ethical fig leaf, ugh, and while I was reading this my brain was yelling, “no NONONONONO don’t do it at all! AHHHH!” Because 😱 maybe play a nice game of chess thanks

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 06:08

**Matthew Graybosch** @starbreaker · May 18, 2018, 06:08

May 18, 2018, 06:08

Matthew Graybosch @starbreaker

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@Cobalt This was a few years back. I'd love to say that I was in on the ground floor at Palantir, realized what they were doing, and decided to get out with a semblance of a clean conscience, but the outfit I worked for wasn't nearly as famous or as successful.

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 06:12

**Cobalt** @Cobalt@weirder.earth · May 18, 2018, 06:12

May 18, 2018, 06:12

Cobalt @Cobalt@weirder.earth

ai, design, Isaac Asimov Show more

@starbreaker Still. Fucking creepy, and you never know where your coworkers and boss may end up someday. Setting the precedent of thinking about this stuff and an expectation that acting on it is what normal, well-grounded people do, is still important. 👍

**Shufei 🈳** @Shufei@mastodon.sdf.org · May 18, 2018, 07:35

**Shufei 🈳** @Shufei@mastodon.sdf.org · May 18, 2018, 07:35

May 18, 2018, 07:35

Shufei 🈳 @Shufei@mastodon.sdf.org

@starbreaker @Cobalt Nah. Judging from what I have read of Palantir’s culture of irresponsibility, I’d not wager you for a Palantir worker...

There is something sweetly menacing in how empire’s belief in its innocence neatly dovetails with the puerile Neverneverland of tech nerd culture. It’s all a jolly boyish romp to make something big, to believe that “disruption” is always good. It must be fun to have such power and so little care for where it lands.