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No Justice, No Robots: From the Dispositions of Policing to an Abolitionist Robotics

Revised
May 19, 2023

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examine the risks posed by roboticists’ collaboration with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Using Trust frameworks from AI Ethics, we argue that collaborations with law enforcement present not only risks of technology misuse, but also risks of legitimizing bad actors, and of exacerbating our field’s challenges of representation. We discuss evidence of bad dispositions justifying these risks, grounded in the behavior, origins, and incentivization of American policing, and suggest courses of action for American roboticists seeking to pursue research projects that currently require collaboration with law enforcement agencies, closing with a call for abolitionist robotics.

Categories

Computing, Diversity, Equity, Ethics, Inclusion, Publications

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Durham, NC 27708USA

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2118453. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.