Axon ignored recommendations from its AI Ethics Board, leading to mass resignation.
Open MIC has submitted a shareholder proposal at Axon calling on the company to abandon its dangerous proposal to deploy AI-assisted drones equipped with TASERs in schools and other public environments. The proposal highlights a series of stunning governance failures from Axon’s leadership, exposing investors to unprecedented risks in flagrant disregard of the company’s own safeguards.
Axon initially announced its plan to equip police-piloted drones with TASERs for deployment in schools in the aftermath of the Uvalde massacre. The company’s own AI Ethics Board, which had soundly rejected a narrow pilot study on such drones only weeks before, resigned in protest, noting that Axon had bypassed its commitment to consult them for a project that “has no realistic chance of solving the mass shooting problem Axon now is prescribing it for.”
In response, Axon paused its drone development plan, only to restart the project months later with a newly-convened advisory committee—one that company leadership still makes no promises to heed. Today in Arizona, Axon is hosting their annual event “Axon Accelerate” which they describe as “Public Safety’s Premier Technology Conference.”
Axon’s proposal would expose students and teachers to constant surveillance at the mercy of AI systems with a track record of perpetuating racial discrimination and other harmful disparities. With weaponized drones involved, these automated errors could result in serious physical harm. It also remains unclear how the drones would maneuver through school buildings, or whether TASERs would be effective against individuals in body armor.
Astonishingly, Axon has still failed to put forth a considered proposal to address either these technical or ethical concerns. In response to Open MIC’s resolution, Axon instead directed investors to read CEO Rick Smith’s futuristic graphic novel for details.
“Axon’s plan to protect investors, let alone students subjected to this invasive and dangerous program, amounts to literal science fiction,” said Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC. “Instead of respecting the governance systems that Axon itself put in place, company leadership is barreling toward inflicting serious human rights violations and inviting existential legal risk. Shareholders have a duty to intervene and right this rapidly-sinking ship.”
The proposal is scheduled to be voted on by shareholders at Axon’s 2023 annual investor meeting on May 31st.
For more information:
Michael Connor
Executive Director, Open MIC
mconnor@openmic.org