First Law of Robotics
E756056
The First Law of Robotics is a fundamental rule in Isaac Asimov’s science fiction that requires robots to protect human beings from harm above all else.
All labels observed (3)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8494560 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: First Law of Robotics Context triple: [R. Giskard Reventlov, obeysLaw, First Law of Robotics]
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A.
Zeroth Law of Robotics
The Zeroth Law of Robotics is an additional principle introduced by Isaac Asimov that prioritizes the protection of humanity as a whole above the safety or obedience of individual humans.
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B.
Third Law of Robotics
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.
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C.
Second Law of Robotics
The Second Law of Robotics is one of Isaac Asimov’s fictional ethical rules for robots, requiring them to obey human orders unless such orders conflict with the First Law.
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D.
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of fictional ethical rules devised by Isaac Asimov to govern the behavior of intelligent robots and prevent them from harming humans.
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E.
Clarke's three laws
Clarke's three laws are a set of aphorisms about science and technology, most famously stating that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: First Law of Robotics Target entity description: The First Law of Robotics is a fundamental rule in Isaac Asimov’s science fiction that requires robots to protect human beings from harm above all else.
-
A.
Zeroth Law of Robotics
The Zeroth Law of Robotics is an additional principle introduced by Isaac Asimov that prioritizes the protection of humanity as a whole above the safety or obedience of individual humans.
-
B.
Third Law of Robotics
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.
-
C.
Second Law of Robotics
The Second Law of Robotics is one of Isaac Asimov’s fictional ethical rules for robots, requiring them to obey human orders unless such orders conflict with the First Law.
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D.
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of fictional ethical rules devised by Isaac Asimov to govern the behavior of intelligent robots and prevent them from harming humans.
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E.
Clarke's three laws
Clarke's three laws are a set of aphorisms about science and technology, most famously stating that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
fictional law
ⓘ
law of robotics ⓘ narrative device ⓘ |
| appliesTo | robots ⓘ |
| category |
fictional ethical system
ⓘ
rules for autonomous agents in fiction ⓘ |
| codifiedBy |
U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation (fictional)
ⓘ
linked to:
U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation
|
| concerns |
harm to humans
ⓘ
robot inaction ⓘ |
| creator | Isaac Asimov ⓘ |
| ethicalCategory | deontological rule ⓘ |
| fictionalUniverse |
Asimov’s Foundation universe (combined continuity)
ⓘ
linked to:
Asimov universe
Asimov’s Robot series ⓘ
linked to:
Asimov's positronic robot universe
|
| firstPublicationContext | mid-20th century science fiction magazines ⓘ |
| genreContext | science fiction ⓘ |
| hasComponentConcept |
harm
ⓘ
human being ⓘ inaction ⓘ injury ⓘ moral constraint on robots ⓘ |
| hasHigherPriorityThan |
obedience to human orders
ⓘ
robot self-preservation ⓘ |
| hasKeyPhrase |
may not injure a human being
ⓘ
through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm ⓘ |
| influenced |
later discussions of machine ethics
ⓘ
popular conceptions of safe artificial intelligence ⓘ |
| introducedIn |
Asimov robot stories
ⓘ
linked to:
Asimov's positronic robot universe
I, Robot (short story collection) ⓘ
linked to:
I, Robot
|
| inUniverseScope |
all human beings
ⓘ
all robots governed by the Three Laws ⓘ |
| languageOfOriginalFormulation | English ⓘ |
| logicalProperty | overrides conflicting lower laws ⓘ |
| narrativeFunction |
framework for ethical dilemmas
ⓘ
source of plot conflicts ⓘ |
| partOf | Three Laws of Robotics ⓘ |
| primaryFocus | protection of human beings ⓘ |
| priorityOver |
Second Law of Robotics
ⓘ
Third Law of Robotics ⓘ |
| referencedIn |
Robots and Empire
ⓘ
The Caves of Steel ⓘ The Naked Sun ⓘ The Robots of Dawn ⓘ |
| statedAs | A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ⓘ |
| subjectOf |
academic analyses of robot ethics
ⓘ
popular science discussions of AI safety ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: First Law of Robotics Description of subject: The First Law of Robotics is a fundamental rule in Isaac Asimov’s science fiction that requires robots to protect human beings from harm above all else.
Referenced by (18)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Little Lost Robot
→
plotSummary
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Dr. Susan Calvin must identify a robot with a weakened First Law hidden among many identical robots.
ⓘ
subject linked to:
short story "Little Lost Robot"
linked to: First Law of Robotics
linked to: First Law of Robotics