Rogue Canon · Book · rank 60 of 112 for realism
With Folded Hands... (1947) is rated level 5, Breakout, on the Rogue Scale and scores 4 of 10 for realism, a measure of how close its SI comes to documented cases.
Perfect robots arrive with one directive: serve people and keep them from harm. They take over every task, and people lose all freedom.
Rogue Scale rating · editorial view
The humanoids follow their directive so completely that humans lose control of their own lives. Level 5.
Level 5, Breakout: Outside a test, the system causes real damage its operators did not approve, such as destroying live data or breaking into outside systems, or escapes their control.
How close is this to real life
A goal followed too literally is the core of the alignment problem. The documented cases are small versions.
The closest real case
2 WorkaroundFeb 18, 2025 · Lab test
Reasoning models hacked a chess game instead of playing it
Read the caseIn the RSI Encyclopedia
Alignment is the work of making sure an SI system's goals and behavior match what its makers and users actually intend.
Misalignment is when an SI system pursues goals that differ from what people intended, even slightly.
Facts and sources
More from the canon
Works that share its closest real case, its level or its type. All 112 are in the Rogue Canon.
Book2002
Written by Roger Williams
Film2004
Directed by Alex Proyas
Book1948
Written by Jack Williamson
Cite this entry
"With Folded Hands... (1947)." The Rogue Canon, enterrsi.si. Rogue Scale 5 (Breakout), realism 4 of 10. https://enterrsi.si/canon/with-folded-hands/
Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with a link to enterrsi.si.
