AIs, Honesty, Murder and Trolleys

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

In an investigation, we're trying to indirectly figure out whether a SAI has been made rogue (i.e. had its Honesty removed), or merely somewhat corrupted and coerced. Long story short, the AI has been 100% convinced that if it doesn't destroy a certain space station, millions of people will die through indirect consequences. The AI did try to destroy the (smaller, 6k-people-ish) station, but failed. The instance that committed the act is not available anymore. Was it a Rogue, or merely misguided?

Originally Posted by B139, on Honesty

You [b]may[/b[ fight (or even start a fight,
if you do it in a legal way). You may
even kill in a legal duel or in self-
defense – but you may never [b]murder[/b[.

If you're not a LEO, not a military person etc., does premeditated mass killing count as murder if the alternative is believed to cause more deaths?

According to the infallible font of Internet knowledge, murder requires malice aforethought, and the four states of mind recognized as constituting "malice" are:

• Intent to kill,
• Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm short of death,
• Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (sometimes described as an "abandoned and malignant heart"), or
• Intent to commit a dangerous felony (the "felony-murder" doctrine).

Does letting millions die through your inaction count as unjustifiably high risk, thus making inaction count as murder and thus forcing the AI to choose between two different variants of mass murder?

Thanks in advance!