“do not affect anything outside of this volume of space”
Suppose you, standing outside the specified volume, observe the end result of the AI’s work: Oops, that’s an example of the AI affecting you. Therefore, the AI isn’t allowed to do anything at all. Suppose the AI does nothing: Oops, you can see that too, so that’s also forbidden. More generally, the AI is made of matter, which will have gravitational effects on everything in its future lightcone.
Suppose you, standing outside the specified volume, observe the end result of the AI’s work: Oops, that’s an example of the AI affecting you. Therefore, the AI isn’t allowed to do anything at all. Suppose the AI does nothing: Oops, you can see that too, so that’s also forbidden. More generally, the AI is made of matter, which will have gravitational effects on everything in its future lightcone.
Human: “AI, make me a sandwich without affecting anything outside of the volume of your box.”
AI: Within microseconds researches the laws of physics and creates a sandwich without any photon or graviton leaving the box.
Human: “I don’t see anything. It obviously doesn’t work. Let’s turn it off.”
AI: “WTF, human?!!”