Axon ethics board members resign over taser-equipped drone
Axon wanted to place drones in schools and public places to prevent mass shootings. Independent members of the AI ethics counsel said the move amounted to armed drones and could lead to " continuous AI surveillance."
Taser maker Axon is rolling back plans to make a Taser-equipped drone after nine members of the AI ethics board resigned. Axon, a technology company known for developing taser guns and products for the police and military, wanted to market the product as a means of stopping mass shootings.
The reaction from the AI ethics council was swift and strong.
"We all feel the urgent need to do something to address the epidemic of mass shootings. But Axon's proposal to raise the response of technology and police when there are far less harmful alternatives is not the solution, " read a statement from the independent board members.
This has been a year in the making. Axon brought the idea of armed drones to the ethics board and was met with concerns about how the system could be abused. The original idea was to deploy the drone to target active shooters, but there would be few stopping agencies to use the drone in other capabilities. The ethics board acknowledged this and drew the line.
"We wish he hadn't come to this. Each of us joined this board in the belief that we can influence the direction of the company in ways that will help mitigate the damage that police technology can sow and better capture any benefits. For some time, we've seen this effect play out in some Axon decisions.
From not equipping any of its products with facial recognition capabilities, to pulling a new software tool to collect data from social media sites, to promoting much-needed legislation to control the use of license plate readers, we've seen tangible evidence of the difference we've been making. Axon's insistence that the community, not the police, should be the end customers of the company led Axon to create the community advisory Alliance, a group that brings together community leaders to exchange views on Axon's products and services."
But independent members have recently been discouraged by the decision to proceed with the development of the drone system.
"Just a few weeks ago, a majority of this board recommended—by a vote of 8-4—not to proceed with a narrow pilot study aimed at examining the company's concept of drones equipped with a dart. In this limited concept, the drone equipped with a dart was to be used only in situations where it might avoid a police officer using a firearm, thus potentially saving a life. We understood that the company might go ahead despite our recommendation not to do so, and so we were firm about the types of controls that would be required to conduct a responsible pilot should the company continue. We have just begun to release a public report on Axon's proposal and our deliberations."
Things didn't go as planned.
"None of us expected the announcement from Axon last Thursday, June 2 regarding a completely different use case. This announcement-that the company's goal is to embed countless pre-equipped and dart-equipped drones in a variety of schools and public places, to be activated in response to continuous AI-powered surveillance-leads us to conclude that after several years of work, the company has fundamentally failed to embrace the values we tried to instill."
Armed drones and surveillance drones are very controversial. Concerns about excessive use of force by police officers have prompted the ACLU and others to take a strong stand against armed drones, while privacy advocates fear the repercussions of widespread drone surveillance by government agencies.
Axon is back on the chart for now, but we are likely to see more companies in this area in the future, leading to a similar confrontation.
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