Let's say that we tell the AI to eliminate malaria.
So it incinerates the biosphere. Now we don't have any malaria, but we also don't have any humans.
The AI would have done exactly what we asked it to do, but not what we wanted to do. For any reasonable request, you need to specify a ridiculous amount of background information as to what is and isn't acceptable. Probably any simple list you create will be missing something, and we'll be miserable/unhappy as a result of it's exclusion.
So it incinerates the biosphere. Now we don't have any malaria, but we also don't have any humans.
The AI would have done exactly what we asked it to do, but not what we wanted to do. For any reasonable request, you need to specify a ridiculous amount of background information as to what is and isn't acceptable. Probably any simple list you create will be missing something, and we'll be miserable/unhappy as a result of it's exclusion.