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Isaac Asimov wrote a series of short stories about robots and ethics in “I, Robot“. In this (fictional) series, scientists imbue their sentient creations with the Three Laws of Robotics to govern their behavior:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Although science fiction, these rules and the stories surrounding them have created both a platform for real-life artificial intelligence research and a high bar for what we should expect of robotics companies. A future without such behavior governance will probably look more like Blade Runner than any of us care to imagine.

From the company that brought you the Roomba, the IRobot Corporation (note the Asimovian reference) has just announced a new model which will include a built-in taser. There goes the First Law. A company official insists, however, that this model won’t be able to taser you on a whim,

“For this system, and all systems we have looked at, there is a human in the loop making the decisions. This in no way is giving the robot the capability to use force on its own.”

(Technically, that breaks the Second Law as well.) The official also notes, “Right now, we have no plans to take any robot with a lethal-weapon approach to the market.” Right now, mind you. The company has already deployed several robotics platforms for military use, including bots which can disarm bombs and deliver ammo in combat zones.

So what do you think? Based on current robotics trends, what movie or TV show best portrays our science-reality future? Cast your vote:

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