Seed AI is a term coined by Eliezer Yudkowsky for a program that would act as the starting point for a recursively self-improving AGI. Initially this program would have a sub-human intelligence. The key for successful AI takeoff would lie in creating adequate starting conditions, this would not just mean a program capable of self-improving, but also doing so in a way that would produce Friendly AI.
Seed AI differs from previously suggested methods of AI control, such as Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics, in that it is assumed a suitably motivated SAI would be able to circumvent any core principles forced upon it. Instead, it would be free to harm a human, but would strongly hold the desire not to. This would allow for circumstances where some greater good may result by causing harm. However this raises issues of moral relativism.