'No place for killer robots in our city': San Francisco abandons controversial policy after backlash

Killer robots volition not beryllium rolled retired successful San Francisco aft each - with constabulary performing a U-turn conscionable days aft the arguable argumentation was announced.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) had mooted the deployment of robots equipped with explosive charges "to contact, incapacitate, oregon disorient violent, armed, oregon unsafe suspects" erstwhile lives were astatine stake.

But connected Tuesday, metropolis supervisors voted to enactment the brakes connected the arguable policy, though the contented volition present beryllium sent backmost to a committee for further treatment and could resurface again.

The committee voted past week to let the usage of deadly robots successful utmost circumstances, but the determination thrust the famously wide metropolis into the centre of a statement astir the aboriginal of exertion and policing, with immoderate saying arming robots was a measurement excessively adjacent to a dystopian subject fabrication movie.

Though robot exertion for policing has go much wide available, departments crossed the state person seldom utilized it to face oregon termination suspects.

The constabulary unit presently has a twelve crushed robots, utilized to measure bombs oregon supply reconnaissance successful debased visibility environments.

However, explicit authorisation to usage robots arsenic a benignant of unit was required aft a caller California instrumentality went into effect this twelvemonth requiring constabulary and sheriffs departments to inventory military-grade instrumentality and question support for their use.

Three supervisors who rejected the argumentation from the opening joined dozens of protesters extracurricular City Hall to impulse the committee to alteration course.

They chanted and held signs speechmaking slogans specified as: "We each saw that movie... No Killer Robots."

Supervisor Dean Preston was among them. He said: "The radical of San Francisco person spoken large and clear: determination is nary spot for slayer constabulary robots successful our city.

"We should beryllium moving connected ways to alteration the usage of unit by section instrumentality enforcement, not giving them caller tools to termination people."