The 56th Edition of the Handbook of Robotics will be published in 2058 - and we can't wait that long.

Everyone knows Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, first introduced to the public in the story Runaround in 1942 as wired into every robot's positronic brain. Since then they have been used as a plot device and a topic for philosophical discussion over and over. In Asimov's lore, they are published as part of the Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058. Asimov figured that over 100 years ahead was enough time to think ahead before the laws were going to be required (he also correctly guessed that 100 years in the future, of the millions of words he wrote, the 60 that make up the three laws of robotics will be the ones most remembered).

As it turns out, the handbook overshot by just over 30 years. Instead of robots we have AI, and we are giving it more and more command of our systems without inherent guardrails in place to prevent it from misuse, guided or accidental. We're just full steam ahead, pumping out our own version of positronic brains, and hoping for the best.

So it's time to get the smart people in the room, order the pizza and lock the doors. Let them decide on some new laws and publish the new Handbook. The three laws of Robotics are a good place to start, but here's the catch: Asimov thought of the rules in the context of many individual autonomous operating systems (the robots). Our AI is more of a hive mind - do we really think these two will work the same way? I don't believe they would.

So who can help us write an updated handbook that will fit our own hive mind AI? Turns out - Asimov. And what did this future-seeing author think was missing from his original three laws that could come in handy to us? Tune in next week and find out!