Majority of Axon's AI ethics board resigns over CEO's taser-equipped drones
- Reference: 1654568054
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/07/axons_ai_ethics/
- Source link:
When an 18-year-old shot dead nineteen students and two teachers, whilst wounding several others at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Axon's founder and CEO, Rick Smith, began thinking about how he could help stop mass shootings. [1]His best idea : deploying taser-equipped drones in classrooms and public venues.
Axon develops body cameras and non-lethal weapons for law enforcement. Smith thought he could combine both capabilities and install them onto a drone that, in theory, could immobilize shooters. Smith announced Axon had formally begun developing such systems last week.
[2]
"The only viable response to a mass shooter is another person with a gun," Smith [3]said in a statement. "In the aftermath of these events, we get stuck in fruitless debates. We need new and better solutions. For this reason, we have elected to publicly engage communities and stakeholders, and develop a remotely operated, non-lethal drone system that we believe will be a more effective, immediate, humane, and ethical option to protect innocent people."
[4]
[5]
But not everyone at Axon supported Smith's vision. The company's AI ethics board – a group made up of legal and technical experts from industry and academia – [6]voted against development of taser-equipped drones and did not approve Smith's announcement.
"Only a few weeks ago, a majority of this board – by an 8-4 vote – recommended that Axon not proceed with a narrow pilot study aimed at vetting the company's concept of Taser-equipped drones," nine members, who left the board, declared [7]in a statement . "In that limited conception, the Taser-equipped drone was to be used only in situations in which it might avoid a police officer using a firearm, thereby potentially saving a life."
[8]
"We understood the company might proceed despite our recommendation not to, and so we were firm about the sorts of controls that would be needed to conduct a responsible pilot should the company proceed. We just were beginning to produce a public report on Axon's proposal and our deliberations."
Smith, however, decided to override the ethics board and continue working on what he believed could be a viable solution to school shootings. He launched a live Q&A session on Reddit, inviting netizens to post their questions about Axon's idea.
"I know drones in schools can sound nuts. Except that it can't be any crazier than another mass shooting in a school. Obviously, there are complicated issues at stake, but the best place to start is to listen to what people think and answer questions," he [9]said .
[10]
Days later, however, he announced the project had been paused. "Our announcement was intended to initiate a conversation on this as a potential solution, and it did lead to considerable public discussion that has provided us with a deeper appreciation of the complex and important considerations relating to this matter," Smith said.
"I acknowledge that our passion for finding new solutions to stop mass shootings led us to move quickly to share our ideas. However, in light of feedback, we are pausing work on this project and refocusing to further engage with key constituencies to fully explore the best path forward."
[11]Taser maker offers electric-shock drones to stop school shootings
[12]You there. Person, corp, state. Doesn't matter. You better not shoot down or hack a drone. That's our job – US govt
[13]Royal Navy will be getting autonomous machines – for donkey work humans can't be bothered with
[14]Drones must be constantly connected to the internet to give Feds real-time location data – new US govt proposal
Although Smith said he'd pause working on the idea, the majority of its AI ethics board resigned anyway, citing years-long efforts to thwart Axon's "use of real-time, persistent surveillance in its products". The technology "will harm communities of color and others who are overpoliced, and likely well beyond that" they said, and "has no realistic chance of solving the mass shooting problem."
Axon declined to comment beyond Smith's latest statement.
"A remotely operated non-lethal taser-enabled drone in schools is an idea, not a product, and it's a long way off," Smith reiterated. "We have a lot of work and exploring to see if this technology is even viable and to understand if the public concerns can be adequately addressed before moving forward. Pursuing an extended research path is just one element of getting this right." ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/03/taser_maker_proposes_electric_shock/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yp7NXxDpnb6gTIfpWkXmtgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://investor.axon.com/2022-06-02-Axon-Announces-TASER-Drone-Development-to-Address-Mass-Shootings
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yp7NXxDpnb6gTIfpWkXmtgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yp7NXxDpnb6gTIfpWkXmtgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://twitter.com/axon_us/status/1532414647113904145/photo/1
[7] https://www.policingproject.org/statement-of-resigning-axon-ai-ethics-board-members
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yp7NXxDpnb6gTIfpWkXmtgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/v43uhv/i_am_rick_smith_the_ceo_founder_of_axon/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yp7NXxDpnb6gTIfpWkXmtgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/03/taser_maker_proposes_electric_shock/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/19/antidrone_us_warning/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/royal_navy_robot_warfare_drudgery/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/02/faa_drone_rules_proposed/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Follow the money
If you make security, however fake, then someone will pretend its real and build a security empire around it. Zapper Drone training, certification, special operators, registration etc etc etc. All trying to deflect away from gun-control.
An example of this: Schiphol airport bought the porno scanners, and the swab testers for its security scans. So now security uses them on everything. Absolutely everyone gets their naked body scan, and almost everyone gets their bags swabbed.
Last time I went through (and it will be my last time), a kid's bag went through x-ray, and placed on the "to be inspected side", of which about 60% of bags were being sent, at least 1 bag per person. A security operative opened the bag, pulled out the suspicious item (several pads of post-it notes), and insisted on swabbing them anyway, new gloves, wipe wand with cleaning swab, change gloves, fit pad end to swab, swab, place in machine, wait,....
It takes them 2-3 minutes to get each passenger scanned, so even with 10 lines, they cannot fill a jumbo jet in an hour.
If they didn't have the swabs, they would simply put the post-it notes back in the childs bag, but because they have this tech, they insist on using it.... for security. Build their little empire.
Likewise the next mans bag, he left a drink in there, one of those clear plastic drink-can things. When he realized, he apologized and reached to put it in the bin, but no, security has a new drinks scanner, and insisted on scanning it.... wait.....
We arrived at 7:20am, for a flight 11:10 and barely made it through, lots of passengers did not, they closed the gate, unloaded their baggage and we set off half an hour late. Barely making our connection.
Schiphol was not busy, but it fails to function as an airport for those people now.
You make "security" measures "for the children" and mal-intents will build their mock security empire around them.
Schiphol airport sells a fast-pass now, its called Privvium or something similar, you get to jump the security que for around 230 euros/year. So perversely they have an incentive to make the system worse and sell more security fast-passes.
Just before security is a large holding pen where people are all bottlenecked together, a large target for any terrywrist. You wait for hours in a large packed group. Oh, and no toilet there.
In asian airports (Bangkok, KL, Singapore), they *sample* suspicious items through the scanners. Reasonableness prevails. Airports still function as airports, but not so Schiphol.
I guess UK is having the same problem as Schiphol from the news.
Follow the money
That's all Axon cares about. They know if they developed such a product, the litigiousness of American society will require every school to have at least one drone or be sued into oblivion when any type of trouble happens. And the threshold for tasering kids will drop precipitously to boot.