San Francisco May Soon Deploy Robots That Can Kill

San Francisco Police Department has announced that they’re designing and building robots that can kill a person in necessary situations.

By: Sydney Kiffney, Journalist

The San Francisco has proposed the idea of using robots that can kill a human, only for emergency situations. This has been a heavily debated topic though. Some people that are against this new idea have said that the police force is already too aggressive, and that we don’t need more technology that could malfunction and hurt innocent people. Some citizens even express their concern that new inventions like these are turning our world into a dystopian future. The San Francisco Police Department released statement saying: “Robots equipped in this manner would only be used in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives,”

On December 5th, a protest began outside of San Francisco City Hall rallying against having these killer robots. At least one supervisor who initially voted for the robots then said they regretted their choice. He was quoted saying “I regret it. I’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable with our vote & the precedent it sets for other cities without as strong a commitment to police accountability.  I do not think making state violence more remote, distanced, & less human is a step forward.”

On December 6th, the policy was revoked. All though it was reported on the San Francisco Chronicle that this revoke is not necessarily permanent and that the issue “will be sent back to the committee”.

 

Similar Articles:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/7/23497922/killer-robot-policy-san-francisco-reversed

https://www.wired.com/story/san-francisco-police-killer-robots-ban/

https://slate.com/technology/2022/12/san-francisco-police-lethal-robots.html

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