POLICE ROBOTS NEED PERMISSION SLIPS

The real news

The story, straight

A remotely operated robot is a machine a human controls from elsewhere. Put a weapon on it, and the important question isn't whether it can fly.

It's who gets to authorize force.

On All-In, Axon's CEO Rick Smith described a future system where an operator needs an administrator's real-time approval before firing even a non-lethal weapon. He calls this multi-key authorization: separate people must approve the action, rather than leaving the operator to decide alone.

RoboCop has entered the permission-slip economy. Lil'meme brought a janitor's key ring; apparently accountability doesn't fit on a lanyard.

Smith argues that recorded video and institutional approval could make robotic policing harder to abuse. His phrase, "least abusable technology in the history of policing", is a boast, not an audited finding.

This is his forward-looking proposal, not a shipped system.

Axon's 2022 TASER-drone development announcement also specified human force decisions, recorded activity and agency oversight. An old development announcement does not establish that today's proposed safeguards are deployed.

The useful question: who checks the people granting permission? Smith says Axon will push customers toward independent civilian oversight.

Multiple approvals could add a check; they don't prove the check works.

Repost if your robot also needs management to unlock its personality.

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