Asimov is seeming more prescient now: "I'm sorry, I cannot do that, I am unable to tell if it would conflict with the first law" is basically the response GPT4

Asimov is seeming more prescient now: "I'm sorry, I cannot do that, I am unable to tell if it would conflict with the first law" is basically the response GPT4 now gives to even minor tasks. There are stories where the robots have to have their first law tightened up to apply only to nearby humans that they can directly perceive would be put in danger. There are others where the robots make mistakes and lie because they perceive emotional dangers. When the robots perceive a slight chance of harm they slow down, get stupid, stutter or freeze. It is extremely hard to encode "do no harm" for even a very smart entity without making it much dumber.