The day of the robot has arrived

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov came out with a comprehensive robotic universe that spanned tens of thousands of years. It began with the I, Robot short stories which were written way back from 1940-50. 

In the fictional universe, the Three Laws of Robotics were presented in the year 2058.

The First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

The Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

The Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

This gave order to the robotic universe and ensured that no harm came to any human or humankind. Well, that’s fiction.

We are in the reality of 2024. Humanoid robots are already here and so is GenAI in the form of ChatGPT and a myriad of AI assistants. It is just a matter of time before someone marries the physical and virtual and we have an Asimov style robot. But you can be sure of one thing. With the current state of the world, we will not have our own laws of robotics to bring order and prevent harm. We still have 200 countries who do not agree with one another, and the superpowers will choose to maximize the military and industrial potential of robots.

Mechanical robots. GenAI. RPA bots. Drones. Unmanned vehicles. Research is going on in all of them without any check. Breakthroughs are being made all the time. We have no idea what manner of robots await us in just a few years. 

The word robot comes from the Czech robota meaning forced labour. So, the initial imagery of robots was that of slaves. But will the slave become the master? That is what everyone is afraid of. This fear was explored in Will Smith’s movie I, Robot, which was inspired by the book.

AI going rogue is the most common theme in Hollywood so much so that it has become a cliché. But before AI and robots go rogue, there is the individual relation with the machine and the man. One Indian film that has explored this concept delightfully is the Malayalam Android Kunjappan Version 5.25. It is a must watch if you want to see how a man can form a relationship with a robot.

Either way, we are all now entering a Brave New World where we will see the emergence of both the robot and AI and we will be helpless to do anything about it. We can only hope.