Physical AI Safety: A Definitional Framework
- Author
- Mati Melchior · Independent Physical AI Safety Researcher
- Published
- 2026-05-06
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Spine for
- Book C
Abstract
Physical AI is moving from research into industrial deployment at scale. The International Federation of Robotics reports more than four million industrial robots in operation globally, and recent national strategy documents identify Physical AI as a priority area for the coming decade. Three discipline traditions inform the safety of such systems: AI Safety, Functional Safety, and Robot Safety. None of them, individually or collectively, addresses the failure modes that arise when machine-learning components drive physical actuators with assurance levels comparable to legacy automation. This paper introduces Physical AI Safety as a distinct discipline. It is the discipline of designing,…
Keywords Physical AI Safety · AI safety · robot safety · functional safety · autonomous systems · hardware safety
Cite as
Mati Melchior (2026). Physical AI Safety: A Definitional Framework. Physical AI Safety Press. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20047586