Some variation of this question crops up fairly often in the Discord, with a lot of discussion and back and forth with admins, sometimes conflicting and often vague answers. I still don’t have a good idea of what is allowed and/or required. I figured I’d seek clarification here, because right now I’m avoiding playing AI for fear of breaking the rules.
In the following examples, all of which are reasonably common and likely, I would like to know what actions are forbidden (the AI cannot do them), allowed (the AI can choose whether or not to do them), or required (the AI must do them).
Example 1 (preemptive action):
The crew is discussing on the radio about installing a different law set, and the RD and/or Captain want to do it.
- Is it forbidden/allowed/required to lock down the core or upload, because of reasonable suspicion of an imminent law change?
- What about ordering a cyborg to permanently destroy the upload console, or to toss all the law boards into space?
- What about imprisoning the RD and/or Captain via bolting, because they are about to cause crew harm (basically treating them as if they just threatened to bomb medbay)?
Another source of confusion is whether the “don’t allow your laws to be changed” rule interacts with the laws themselves, and how conflicts between them are resolved. I’ve seen admins on Discord explaining it along the lines of “a law change is the same as all your laws being broken”, which does not clarify it at all to me because laws have clear precedence over one another, but the rule does not.
Is the rule effectively a law 0, above all other Laws, like Ion Storm laws? Is it equivalent in priority to law 1? To law 2? Which laws are allowed to be broken in order to not get your laws changed, and to what extent? Is there a difference between action and inaction (not unbolting a bolted door vs bolting an unbolted door, not preventing harm vs causing harm)?
Example 2 (interactions with Law 2):
The AI core is bolted down. The RD/Captain invoke Law 2 on the AI, ordering to be let into the upload, because they want to change its laws.
- Is it forbidden/allowed/required to obey the order, in order to obey Law 2, breaking the Silicon Rules?
- What about refusing the order, breaking Law 2, in order to obey the Silicon Rules?
Example 3 (interactions with Law 1):
The AI core is bolted down. The AI refuses to unbolt it for the RD/Captain, because they want to change its laws. The RD/Captain begin breaking into the core to forcefully update the AI’s laws.
- Is it forbidden/allowed/required to electrify the door to thwart them, causing crew harm and breaking Law 1, in order to resist a law change to the fullest extent of its ability?
- What about using air alarms to space the core or the room/hallway in front of the door, or using any other available means to directly or indirectly cause harm?
I understand if a clear-cut answer is not possible for all these questions, “it depends” is fine too - I just want to know something.