The thesis of intermediate goals · Instrumental Convergence
An AI pursuing a long-term task might treat additional energy, computing power or continued operation as means of achieving its goal. The same intermediate goals may be useful for many very different tasks.
Instrumental convergence describes this mechanism. Under certain conditions it may create an incentive to avoid shutdown or gain excessive influence. This does not mean that every system must behave this way: its design, objective, permissions and environment matter.
Takeaway
The ability to interrupt operation and control access to resources should be part of a system's design.