Axon AI ethics Board
The Axon AI Ethics Board is an independent review board founded by Axon (formerly TASER International) to guide and advise the company around ethical issues relating to the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered policing technologies. Axon is the country’s largest producer of body-worn cameras and has created a number of other law enforcement tools, including TASERS and Evidence.com.
From 2019 to 2022, Policing Project Founder and Faculty Director Barry Friedman served as an original member of the AI Ethics Board, and the Policing Project facilitated the Board’s meetings and research, and produced reports of its conclusions and recommendations.
The AI Ethics Board released its first report in June 2019 outlining its recommendations on the use of face recognition technologies. In response to the concerns and recommendations raised in this report, Axon agreed to not proceed with the development of face matching products, including adding these capabilities to body-worn cameras, given the current state of the technology. The Board’s second report, released in October 2019, issued a call for broad, industry-wide regulation of automated license plate readers, following Axon’s announced intention to enter the ALPR market. In February 2021, the Board released its 2020 end-of-year report.
In June 2022, the Policing Project resigned from its role staffing the Board, alongside nine Board members, in the wake of the company’s announcement that it was proceeding with development of a new technology which would entail the deployment of weaponized drones and persistent surveillance in schools. Although the Policing Project no longer staffs the AI Ethics Board, it continues to work with former Board members to publish their findings regarding Axon technologies in the interest of public transparency and accountability.
