Axon Ethics Board Members Resign Over Company’s Plan to Build Taser-Equipped Drones

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2022

NEW YORK – Today nine members of the Axon AI Ethics Board resigned following the company’s announcement last week that it will build drones equipped with Tasers and real-time surveillance to stop mass shootings.

In a statement released today, the departing Board members write: “We all feel the desperate need to do something to address our epidemic of mass shootings. But Axon’s proposal to elevate a tech-and-policing response when there are far less harmful alternatives, is not the solution.” According to those Board members, when Axon decided to make its announcement “it bypassed Axon’s commitment to consult with the company’s own AI Ethics Board.”

Comprised of experts in artificial intelligence, computer science, privacy, law enforcement, civil liberties, and public policy, the four-year old, 13-member board advises the company on the ethical implications of its products. The nine members resigning today are Wael Abd-Almageed, Miles Brundage, Ryan Calo, Danielle Citron, Rebekah Delsol, Barry Friedman, Chris Harris, Jennifer Lynch, and Mecole McBride.

Axon first mentioned the armed drone concept to the Axon AI Ethics board over a year ago. At that time, the company proposed offering the drone to police departments as a tool that would remotely disarm a person and avoid a police officer using a firearm, thereby potentially saving a life. The board expressed deep concerns over how the drone could be misused, escalate the use of force by police, and disproportionately harm overpoliced communities and communities of color. It voted 8-4 to recommend that Axon not proceed with a limited pilot of even this use case.

Yet despite these concerns and over the strenuous objections of the Ethics Board, Axon announced on June 2 that it is proceeding with the development of the armed drone to embed in schools and other targets of mass shootings. Furthermore, the drone would rely on pervasive real-time surveillance, which was not contemplated in the original concept.

In the past, the company has heeded some of the board’s recommendations, most notably in 2019 when the company announced it would not equip its body-worn cameras with facial recognition technology. Axon also abided the board’s objection to a software tool that collects data from social media websites.

Read the full statement by the resigning members of the Axon AI Ethics Board here: http://policingproject.org/statement-of-resigning-axon-ai-ethics-board-members