Axon, the company that is best known for its electric shock weapons, announced yesterday that the work of developing a drone equipped with electric shock weapons will be discontinued for the time being.
It was last week that Axon announced that they had begun to develop a drone that could use electric shock weapons. The company stated that the drone would primarily be developed so that the police could use it to neutralize people who carry out so-called mass shootings.
However, Axon’s external AI committee had previously advised the company not to develop armed drones. When it became known that Axon was nevertheless beginning to develop such a drone, nine of the twelve people who were part of the advisory committee resigned. Axon’s drone project has also been criticized by civil rights activists and others since the company’s drone plans were unveiled last week.
All in all, the criticism and resignations from Axon’s advisory committee on AI issues seem to have led Axon to pause the work on the armed drone. In a statement, the company’s CEO and founder Rick Smith says, among other things:
“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. 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. “
Whether Axon will resume its drone plans in the future remains to be seen.
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Axon will release drones with an electric pistol
Intended to be used during school shootings
The security company Axon states that they have begun to develop a drone with an electric shock weapon that can be used to neutralize violent people. Axon is already one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electric shock weapons and they also sell body cameras intended for police officers, for example. Axon writes in a press release that the drone was primarily developed so that the police can use it during mass shootings, a phenomenon that has become disgustingly common in the USA in recent years. Axon CEO and founder Rick Smith says of the company’s future electric pistol drones: “Today, the only viable response to a mass shooter is another person with a gun. 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. ” When we could possibly see Axon’s electrically equipped drones on the market, there is so far no information about. Armed drones have always been controversial and Gizmodo writes that civil rights experts are critical of such. Even Axon’s own external committee on AI issues is critical of the company’s drone plans. The committee writes in a statement that it has previously recommended that Axon not proceed with the development of a drone with taser functionality. You will find the full statement from the committee in the embedded tweet below. Mandatory clip from Dark Angel can also be found below.
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