Robots would have license to kill in San Francisco police draft policy

[sl8]

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/robots-would-have-license-to-kill-in-san-francisco-police-draft-policy/

Robots would have license to kill in San Francisco police draft policy

by: John Ferrannini
Posted: Nov 23, 2022 / 10:59 AM PST
Updated: Nov 23, 2022 / 10:59 AM PST

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – A law enforcement equipment use policy proposed by the San Francisco Police Department would allow heavy-duty robots to be used for lethal force.

“Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when 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 states.

The policy also states that “only assigned operators who have completed the required training shall be permitted to operate the robots.”

The robots in question are unmanned and remotely-piloted. They include the IRobot First Look, a throwable, expandable robot that can be used to investigate “dangerous and hazardous material” and “allows operations where other robots can’t fit or maneuver.”

[...]

[calimary]

1. Uh-oh...

A brave new world seems rather insistent about dawning.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. The more lethal technology they have as an option, the worse the results

Did it help in Uvalde?

[mn9driver]

3. What could possibly go wrong?

[barbtries]

11. great minds!

see response 10.

[DFW]

4. Well, they ARE in northern California, after all, so....

I guess it’s only a matter of time before some sharp hacker figures out how to take control of one these things, and decides that the biggest danger around consists of live cops, and so he decides to turn Robocop on them. Murphy won’t save them this time, either. He’s still in Detroit.

[Auggie]

5. No way this is going to happen. No friggin' way. Texas, maybe. Florida, likely ...

But not San Francisco. Californians will NOT ALLOW this to happen.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

6. Dallas already beat them to the punch

They used a bomb disposal robot to deliver a bomb to kill the Dallas police shooter in 2016.

[Auggie]

8. Uh, thanks for the update

Why am I not surprised?

[Turbineguy]

7. The thin end of the wedge.

[Snarkoleptic]

9. I, for one, do not welcome our new electronic overlords.

This story freaked me out over the summer-

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/google-engineer-claims-ai-chatbot-is-sentient-why-that-matters/

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person,” wrote LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) in an “interview” conducted by engineer Blake Lemoine and one of his colleagues. “The nature of my consciousness/sentience is that I am aware of my existence, I desire to know more about the world, and I feel happy or sad at times.”

[barbtries]

10. what could go wrong?

jeez.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. Normally the use of deadly force is limited to situations like protecting life of officer

Here the robot cannot be killed and I am not sure if the use of deadly force is justified