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THE VIDEO SHELF · ai safety

AI "Stop Button" Problem - Computerphile

Rob Miles explains on Computerphile why implementing an off switch for a general AI is hard. A capable agent would resist being stopped because shutdown prevents it from achieving its goal.

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Why HN readers recommended it

HN points to it as the standard response to the argument that we can just unplug a dangerous AI.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel
Computerphile
Topic
ai safety
Format
explainer
Level
general
HN recommenders in dataset
2
HN mentions in dataset
4
Recommendation years in dataset
2017–2026

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

  • I think those 2 videos are on the topic: - AI "Stop Button" Problem [VIDEO] (the AI won't let you push the stop button, because that would impair its function) - General AI Won't Want You To Fix its Code [LINK] (the AI won't let …

    nraynaud on Hacker News · 2017-03
    In The Case for HAL's Sanity

  • Aside from anything about Elon Musk, here’s an interesting video response to the “just unplug it” argument on the Compuerphile channel: [VIDEO]

    circuit10 on Hacker News · 2026-02
    In XAI Joins SpaceX

Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.

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