The headquarters of Axon Enterprise Inc, formerly Taser International, is seen in Scottsdale, Aizona, U.S., May 17, 2017. Picture taken May 17, 2017. To match Special Report USA-TASER/EXPERTS REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

June 5 (Reuters) – Taser maker Axon Enterprise Inc (AXON.O) said on Sunday it was halting work on a project to equip drones with stun guns to combat mass shootings, a prospect that a member of its AI ethics committee told Reuters. caused an exodus from the panel.

The May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two teachers, prompted Axon to announce last week that it was working on a drone that could be operated remotely by first responders to fire a Taser on a target about 40 feet (12 m).

“In light of the feedback, we are suspending work on this project and refocusing to engage further with key interest groups to fully explore the best way forward,” chief executive Rick Smith said Sunday in a statement.

Earlier, ethics committee member Wael Abd-Almageed told Reuters he and eight colleagues were resigning from the 12-member panel, in a rare public rebuke from one of the watchdog groups some companies have set up. these last years.

The purpose of these groups is to gather feedback on emerging technologies, such as drones and artificial intelligence (AI) software.

Smith said it was unfortunate that some members “chose to back out of engaging directly on these issues before we’ve heard or had a chance to answer their technical questions.”

He said Axon “will continue to seek out diverse perspectives to challenge our thinking and help guide other technology options we should consider.”

Axon, which also sells body-worn cameras and police software, said in February its customers included about 17,000 of the roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States.

He’s been exploring the idea of ​​a Taser-equipped police drone since at least 2016, and Smith described how an active shooter could be stopped in a graphic novel he wrote.

The company first approached its ethics committee more than a year ago to run a limited police pilot with Taser-equipped drones, which members voted against eight to four, Abd-Almageed said, associate professor of engineering research at the University of Southern California.

Axon last Thursday announced that it was working on the technology anyway, hoping to spur discussion after the Uvalde shooting. read more Its shares rose nearly 6% on the announcement.

“In the wake of these events, we find ourselves stuck in sterile debates” about guns, Smith said. “We need new and better solutions.”

Members of the ethics committee were concerned that the system could be used in circumstances other than shootings and exacerbate racial injustice, invade privacy through surveillance and become more deadly if other weapons were added, a declared Abd-Almageed.

“What we have right now is just dangerous and irresponsible, and it’s not very well thought out and it will have negative societal consequences,” he said.

Last week, New York University Law School Policing Project board member Mecole Jordan-McBride said the board needed more time to weigh the idea. The council has not assessed non-policing drone use, he said.

Formed in 2018, the panel productively guided Axon on sensitive technologies such as facial recognition. But announcing the company’s drone before an official board report broke with practice, according to Jordan-McBride and his colleague Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington.

Chairman Barry Friedman has also resigned, Abd-Almageed said. Friedman, reached by phone, said he would be available for comment on Monday.

CEO Smith acknowledged the limitations and uncertainties surrounding the project, noting that a drone without a Taser could be enough on its own to distract a shooter.

In response to questions on social media service Reddit on Friday, Smith wrote that drones could be parked in hallways and moved into rooms through special vents. A drone system would cost a school about $1,000 a year, he said.

Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif., and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel

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