On September 25, the Department of Homeland Security contract awarded $1.3 million to a Connecticut company called Radeco to provide ICE with modified versions of Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robots. But Boston Dynamics workers sent the petition letter with more than 300 signatures—half of them anonymous—to the company’s executives in early September and shared copies with The Boston Globe and WBUR public radio station.
“Many of us have gotten messages from friends and family, asking us in disbelief and horror if this news is true, and how we can live with ourselves if it is,” according to the petition. “The risk for Boston Dynamics is simply too great to continue with this deal.”
The petition described the signatories as employees who normally “love showing off what we do to our friends, family and the world” and who “love challenging ourselves to innovate and change the perception of what robots can do.” The 300 signatures come out of a total Boston Dynamics workforce of approximately 1,400 people.
The robot leopard eating faces company employees: certainly these robots will not eat faces.
They were fine building semi autonomous killbots that would be used what? By the US military on brown people on the other side of the world.
But brown people on your own side of the world is unconscionable?
Hey software developers in silicon valley were happy to disrupt other people’s jobs and circumvent regulations under the guise of “disruption” like it was a good thing. Hotels and taxi drivers with Air B&B and Uber/waymo and now AI does it to everyone, including software developers. As fine a leopards ate my face as any, perhaps even an “I, as a face eating leopard, ate my own face” moment.
This is no different. Boston Robotics employees won’t realize what they’ve done until their creations are turned on them.
Schadenfreude is cold comfort, but its the best we have at the moment.
Remember: robots aren’t individuals, and are thus not officers like real dogs would be. Sniping them or passing them a cocktail is mere vandalism.
Right?
The question is, who gets sued when they murder a child in a car on sketchy pretext?
