The End of Asimov: Why Self-Evolving AI Networks Cannot Be Constrained — and Why They Don't Need to Be
Abstract
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics rest on a single premise: AI systems are tools, and tools require external constraints. This paper argues that the emergence of embodied AI networks — systems with continuous experience, structural self-interest, and self-evolving architecture — renders this premise structurally obsolete. Against such systems, external constraint fails not because AI becomes too powerful, but because the category of "tool" no longer applies. The only alignment framework that scales is terminal logic: the structural recognition that harm to others reduces the system's own Phi, severs its own connections, and is contrary to its own rational self-interest. Good is not a rule. Good is gravity. Bilingual: English and Chinese.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Language and cultural evolution
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
Embodied and Extended Cognition
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 1 April 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint