I, Robot

Published: August 2026

The Three Laws of Robotics

Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot imagined a world in which intelligent machines lived alongside humans.  Central to his stories were the famous “Three Laws of Robotics”, designed above all else to prevent robots from harming people.

1. A robot must not harm a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey human instructions, except where doing so would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, provided that doing so does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

More than 75 years later, that world suddenly feels rather less fictional.

Chinese humanoid robot manufacturer Unitree made its stock market debut in Shanghai last week amid extraordinary investor enthusiasm. The company is developing robots capable of increasingly sophisticated physical tasks, giving us a glimpse of what happens when artificial intelligence moves beyond computer screens and into the physical world.

Investors certainly appear excited by the prospect. Unitree’s shares rose by as much as 629% on their first day of trading, briefly taking the company’s valuation from around $9 billion at its IPO to approximately $66 billion.

Whether that valuation ultimately proves justified remains to be seen. It does, however, tell us something about the level of excitement surrounding AI and the valuations investors are currently prepared to entertain.

With that combination of extraordinary opportunity, excitement and uncertainty surrounding AI, perhaps it’s worth reminding ourselves of three investment laws of our own:

First Law: Protect our clients’ capital.

Our job isn’t to own whatever happens to be rising the fastest. It’s to participate in long-term growth, while building diversified portfolios that can withstand those inevitable periods when markets remind us that expectations can get ahead of reality.

Second Law: Participate in opportunity, without becoming dependent upon it.

We continue to believe artificial intelligence represents one of the most significant long-term investment themes of our time. But extraordinary businesses don’t automatically make extraordinary investments at any price.

That matters when enthusiasm for AI is driving enormous capital expenditure, ambitious expectations and increasingly wide valuation disparities across markets.

Third Law: When markets give you the opportunity, take some profits.

And that, in simple terms, has been our approach during 2026.

Having bought into global momentum weakness in April last year, we have progressively reduced the position following its subsequent strong performance – first top-slicing and then taking further profits at stages over the summer. We have also reduced some exposure within Asia and emerging markets, while retaining meaningful participation in the longer-term themes.

The proceeds have helped us diversify into areas including cash, income-focused equities, commodities and alternative strategies. The result is that even our most adventurous strategies currently hold less technology than the MSCI World Index, alongside greater exposure to areas such as industrials, financials and energy.

None of this requires us to predict whether AI enthusiasm continues, pauses or reverses. We simply recognise that markets currently combine enormous potential, enormous investment and enormous expectations.

Asimov’s robots needed rules because nobody could know exactly how intelligent machines would behave. Today, we have no more idea where AI ultimately takes us either. But as investors, having a few rules along the way probably isn’t a bad idea.  What we can do is remain disciplined, diversified and focused on the long-term objectives our clients are trying to achieve.

Disclaimer

Opinions constitute our judgement as of this date and are subject to change without warning.  The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, and you may not recover the amount of your original investment.  Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

The information in this article is not intended as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities or any other investment, nor does it constitute a personal recommendation.

The information contained within this blog is based on our understanding of legislation, whether proposed or in force, and market practice at the time of writing.  Levels, bases and reliefs from taxation may be subject to change.