I must kill this nonviolent person in order to save the world.
You may wish to strengthen that claim somewhat. I doubt the CIA would classify 'about to press the on switch of an unfriendly AGI' as 'nonviolent'.
You do make a good point about (actually rational constructions of) ethics.
Sure; but the CIA also classifies "leading a peaceful, democratic political uprising" as worthy of violence; so they're not a very good guide.
More seriously: Today there are probably dozens or hundreds of processes going on that, if left unchecked, could lead to the destruction of the world and all that you and I value. Some of these are entirely mindless. I'm rather confident that somewhere in the solar system is an orbiting asteroid that will, if not deflected, eventually crash into the Earth and destroy all life as we know it. Everyone who is ...
It's probably easier to build an uncaring AI than a friendly one. So, if we assume that someone, somewhere is trying to build an AI without solving friendliness, that person will probably finish before someone who's trying to build a friendly AI.
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further edit:
Wow, this is getting a rather stronger reaction than I'd anticipated. Clarification: I'm not suggesting practical measures that should be implemented. Jeez. I'm deep in an armchair, thinking about a problem that (for the moment) looks very hypothetical.
For future reference, how should I have gone about asking this question without seeming like I want to mobilize the Turing Police?