Every so often, when explaining issues related to AI safety, I call on good old Asimov. That's easy: almost everyone that is at least interested in science knows his name, and the Three Laws of Robotics are a very good example of misspecified goal. Or are they?

The truth is: I don't know. My last reading through Asimov's robots dates back ten years; it was in french; and I didn't know anything about AI safety, specification and many parts of my current mental scaffolding. So when I use Asimov for my points now, I'm not sure whether I'm spouting bullshit or not.

Fortunately, the solution is simple, for once: I just have to read the goddamn stories. And since I'm not the only one I heard talking about Asimov in this context, I thought that a sequence on the robots stories would prove useful.

My first stop is by "I,Robot", the first robot short story collection. And it starts with the first story published by Asimov, "Robbie".

Basically, this Robbie is a robot that takes care of a little girl named Gloria. All is well, until Gloria's mother turns into the bad guy, and decides that her girl should not be raised by a machine. She harasses her weak husband until he accepts to get rid of Robbie. But when Gloria discovers the loss of her friend, nothing can comfort her. The parents try everything, including a trip to New York, paradise to suburbians. But nope, the girl is still heartbroken. Last try of the father: a visit to a factory manned by robots, so little Gloria can see that they are lifeless machines, not real people. But, tada! Robbie was there! And he even saves the girl from an oncoming truck! It's revealed that the father planned it (Robbie being there, not the murder attempt on his daughter), but even so, the mother can't really send back the savior of her little girl. The End.

Just a simple story about a nice little robot beloved by a girl, and the machinations of her mother to "protect" her from him. What's not to love? It's straight to the point, nicely written, and, if you can gloss over the obvious sexism, quite enjoyable.

How does it hold in terms of AI safety discussion? Well, let Mr Weston, the father, give it to us:

'Nonsense', Weston denied, with an involuntary nervous shiver. 'That's completely ridiculous. We had a long discussion at the time we bought Robbie about the First Law of Robotics. You know it's impossible for a robot to harm a human bei

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Lessons from Isaac