Don't Arm Robots in Policing

Elected officials and local authorities across the United States and around the world should consider replicating an innovative legislative proposal that would prohibit police from arming robots used in their law enforcement operations. The bill, introduced on March 18 by New York City council members Ben Kallos and Vanessa Gibson, would "prohibit the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from using or threatening to use robots armed with a weapon or to use robots in any manner that is substantially likely to cause death or serious physical injury." The proposed law comes after a social media outcry over the use of an unarmed 70-pound ground robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics in a policing operation last month in the Bronx. US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized its deployment "for testing on low-income communities of color with under-resourced schools" and suggested the city should invest instead in education. In a statement published in Wired and other news outlets, Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said that the company's robots "will achieve long-term commercial viability only if people see robots as helpful, beneficial tools without worrying if they're going to cause harm."