Third Law of Robotics

E754391

The Third Law of Robotics is one of Isaac Asimov’s fictional ethical rules for robots, requiring them to protect their own existence as long as this does not conflict with higher-priority laws about obeying humans and preventing harm.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf ethical principle for robots
fictional law
rule of robotics
appliesTo robots
concerns self-preservation of robots
creator Isaac Asimov NERFINISHED
definesObligation robot self-protection
describesRelationship robot’s duty to preserve itself unless this conflicts with obeying human orders
robot’s duty to preserve itself unless this conflicts with preventing harm to humans
ethicalDomain robot ethics
fictionalUniverse Isaac Asimov’s Foundation universe NERFINISHED
Isaac Asimov’s Robot series NERFINISHED
firstAppearanceAuthor Isaac Asimov NERFINISHED
firstAppearanceWork Runaround NERFINISHED
firstAppearanceYear 1942
hasConceptualFocus safety of the robot
hasCulturalImpactOn film and television portrayals of robots
public understanding of AI safety
science fiction literature
hasHigherPriorityLaw First Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
Second Law of Robotics
hasInterpretationIssue conflicts between robot self-preservation and human safety
edge cases in following human orders that endanger the robot
hasLogicalForm self-preservation constrained by higher-priority duties to humans
hasNormType conditional obligation
hasOrderingWithinSet lowest priority law among the Three Laws of Robotics
hasPriorityRank third
hasScope all robots governed by the Three Laws of Robotics
influenced discussions of machine ethics
popular culture depictions of robots
isContrastedWith First Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
Second Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
isReferencedIn I, Robot NERFINISHED
Robots and Empire NERFINISHED
The Caves of Steel NERFINISHED
The Naked Sun NERFINISHED
The Robots of Dawn NERFINISHED
isSubConceptOf Asimov’s robotic ethics framework NERFINISHED
languageOfOriginalFormulation English
limitedBy First Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
Second Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
mediumOfOriginalPublication science fiction magazine
memberOf Asimov’s laws of robotics NERFINISHED
originalPublication Astounding Science-Fiction NERFINISHED
partOf Three Laws of Robotics NERFINISHED
statedAs A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
subordinateTo First Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
Second Law of Robotics NERFINISHED

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

R. Giskard Reventlov obeysLaw Third Law of Robotics
R. Daneel Olivaw followsLaw Third Law of Robotics
Galley Slave usesLawSystem Third Law of Robotics