The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is reviewing hundreds of state parole hearings to see if any inmates who were denied parole were rejected because of faulty drug tests. Nearly 6,000 drug tests in California prisons are believed to have yielded false positives between April and July last year, and attorneys for the Board of Parole are now conducting a review of inmate files to determine if any of them need to appear before the parole board again to be reconsidered, according to officials with CDCR. If any inmates were denied parole because of the faulty tests, they could be owed a new hearing before the parole board, said attorneys representing inmates affected by the defective drug tests. The review is already underway and will determine if "without the positive drug screening, there is sufficient evidence to support an incarcerated person's denial of parole," said CDCR spokesperson Emily Humpal in a statement. If there isn't enough evidence to support incarceration other than the drug test, a new hearing will be scheduled.

Last week, we talked about killer robots. That piece was inspired by a proposal that would allow San Francisco police to use robots for killing "when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD." Last night, that proposal passed the city's board of supervisors with an 8-3 vote. The language was included in a new "Law Enforcement Equipment Policy" filed by the San Francisco Police Department in response to California Assembly Bill 481, which requires a written inventory of the military equipment utilized by law enforcement. The document submitted to the board of supervisors includes -- among other things -- the Lenco BearCat armored vehicle, flash-bang grenades and 15 submachine guns.

Three years ago, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors made history by becoming the first city in the nation to ban use of facial recognition technology by local government. Last night, the board went in a different direction, giving police the right to kill a criminal suspect with a teleoperated robot if they believe there is an imminent threat of death to police or members of the public. Assistant police chief David Lazar said ahead of the vote that killer robots might be needed in scenarios involving mass shootings or suicide bombers, citing the Mandalay Bay shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 and the killing of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, in 2016. Dallas police ultimately used explosives strapped to a Remotec F5A bomb disposal robot--a model also possessed by the San Francisco Police Department--to kill that suspect. The new administrative code requires a police chief to authorize use of deadly force involving a robot and to first consider de-escalation or an alternative use of force.

A week ago, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) petitioned the Board of Supervisors for permission to deploy robots that can kill suspects under specific circumstances. Now, the board has approved the petition with a vote of 8 vs. 3 despite strong opposition from civil liberties groups. Under the new policy, robots can be used "as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers are imminent and outweigh any other force option available to the SFPD." The city's police force has over a dozen robots at the moment, which are equipped with the capability to provide video reconnaissance and to diffuse bombs. None of them have weapons and live ammunition, the SFPD says, and there are no plans to fit them with any.

Okay, let's talk about killer robots. It's a concept that long ago leapt from the pages of science fiction to reality, depending on how loose a definition you use for "robot." Military drones abandoned Asimov's First Law of Robotics -- "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm" -- decades ago. The topic has been simmering again of late due to the increasing prospect of killer robots in domestic law enforcement. One of the era's best known robot makers, Boston Dynamics, raised some public policy red flags when it showcased footage of its Spot robot being deployed as part of Massachusetts State Police training exercises on our stage back in 2019.

The San Francisco Police Department is currently petitioning the city's Board of Supervisors for permission to deploy robots to kill suspects that law enforcement deems a sufficient threat that the "risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD." The draft policy, which was written by the SFPD itself, also seeks to exclude "hundreds of assault rifles from its inventory of military-style weapons and for not include personnel costs in the price of its weapons," according to a report from Mission Local. As Mission Local notes, this proposal has already seen significant opposition from both within and without the Board. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, initially pushed back against the use of force requirements, inserting "Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person," into the policy language. The SFPD removed that wording in a subsequent draft, which I as a lifelong San Francisco resident did not know was something that they could just do.

Having helped grow Google from a Silicon Valley startup to a global heavyweight, Eric Schmidt appreciates more than almost anyone the power of technology in the modern world. But some things scare him, too. Speaking at the TIME100 Leadership Forum in Singapore on Sunday, the technologist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of philanthropic foundation Schmidt Futures said "you don't need to worry about the killer robot." It makes for a good movie, but "we're not building that, right? However, he is concerned about the misuse of artificial intelligence to help build things in the real world.

Modulate, a leader in the fight against online toxicity, announced the completion of a $30 million Series A funding round led by Lakestar with participation from existing investors Everblue Management, Hyperplane Ventures, and others. In addition, Mika Salmi, Managing Partner of Lakestar, will join Modulate's Board of Directors. The company will use the funds to expand its team and continue scaling its groundbreaking proactive voice moderation platform, ToxMod. "ToxMod is changing the way game developers attack toxic behavior in their communities and this funding is a real validation of our mission to make online communities safer," said Mike Pappas, CEO of Modulate. "We're thrilled to welcome Mika and his vast store of experience to the Board as we grow our team and ramp up the development and deployment of ToxMod."

With artificial intelligence (AI) technology maturing, there are many other roles and jobs that are set to be replaced. For example, AI can pick up trends in massive data sets that a human being would be unable to match. So, are accountants going to be replaced by AI? (Hint: we don't think so.) Those arguing for the replacement of accountants by AI have misunderstood some key elements of the two. Their argument, simply put, is that as the world gets digitized, computers will take care of any manual work previously done by humans – including accounting.