Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to explore the safety value of implementing Asimov’s
Laws of Robotics as a future general framework that humans should
obey. Asimov formulated laws to make explicit the safeguards of the robots
in his stories: (1) A robot may not injure or harm a human being or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; (2) A robot must obey the
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. In Asimov’s
stories, it is always assumed that the laws are built into the robots to govern
the behaviour of the robots. As his stories clearly demonstrate, the Laws can
be ambiguous. Moreover, the laws are not very specific. General rules as a
guide for robot behaviour may not be a very good method to achieve robot
safety – if we expect the robots to follow them. But would it work for
humans? In this chapter, we ask whether it would make as much, or more,
sense to implement the laws in human legislation with the purpose of governing
the behaviour of people or companies that develop, build, market or
use AI, embodied in robots or in the form of software, now and in the future.