Axon, a company that develops drones equipped with Tasers, has halted its work. The majority of its AI ethics board resigned after the plan was announced last week.
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Nine of the 12 members said in a resignation letter that just a few weeks ago, the board voted 8-4 to recommend that Axon not proceed with a pilot study of a Taser-equipped drone. The nine board members noted that Axon might refuse to follow that recommendation and were working on a report on what steps the company should take if it went ahead.
The nine people said they were shocked by the announcement last Thursday, nine days after 19 elementary school students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that it was beginning development of such a drone. It was designed to “neutralize an active shooter in less than 60 seconds.” Axon said it “has asked the board to reconnect and consider issuing further guidance and feedback on this capability.”
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Axon CEO Rick Smithhas suggested that drones could be deployed as a measure to prevent mass shootings. He envisions drones being stationed in school hallways and able to enter classrooms through air vents. The drone system, which Axon has proposed, could be ready by 2024 and would cost schools about $1,000 a year.
The system would leverage security camerasto detect active shooter incidents using both human tracking and artificial intelligence. While a human operator would make the final decision on whether to fire a Taser, Axon planned to develop “targeting algorithms” to help “properly and safely aim the device.”
“This kind of surveillance will undoubtedly harm communities of color and others who are overpoliced, and likely far beyond,” the resigned board members wrote. “The unmanned Taser-equipped drone also has no realistic chance of solving the problem of mass shootings that Axon purports to solve, distracting society from real solutions to a tragic problem. We all feel a desperate need to do something about the situation. But Axon’s proposal to increase the technology and policing response when there are far less harmful alternatives is not the solution.”
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Board members said that before Axon made its announcement, they urged it to “withdraw” the plans.
However, after the attack on the Texas elementary school , the company proceeded to announce its plans.
Smith said the goal of the announcement was to start a discussion about using Taser-equipped drones as a possible solution.
