Ethics of AI Archives — LIRNEasia


Are Monsters Real?

Posted on May 5, 2026  /  0 Comments

In 1942, Isaac Asimov published a short story called Runaround, featuring a robot named ‘Speedy', sent to collect minerals on Mercury. Speedy, unfortunately, gets stuck in a loop: caught between two of his own programmed laws, endlessly circling a pool of selenium, unable to break free. The story gave the world Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. The genius of Runaround is that Asimov didn't use these laws to show what happens when robots work. He used them to show what happens when they don't.
On July 22, LIRNEasia, in collaboration with the United States–Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission, hosted a thought-provoking Roundtable Dialogue on the Ethics of Explainable AI at its premises. The session featured Dr. Robert T. Pennock, University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, who is affiliated with Lyman Briggs College, the Departments of Philosophy and the Departments of Computer Science & Engineering, and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. With a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science, Dr.