Is it ethical to work on general-purpose robots given the risk of totalitarianism?

Per LessWrong, an AI safety contributor raises an important ethical question: as general-purpose robots become feasible — machines capable of learning new physical tasks and manufacturing copies of themselves when directed — should researchers continue developing this technology? The concern: such robots could dramatically reduce the friction required to establish totalitarian control. The post notes that while the AI safety community extensively debates autonomous weapons, there's remarkably little discussion of the specific risks from general-purpose robotics, and calls for the community to weigh in on whether it's ethical to build this capability.

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