Boston Dynamics employees want to block sale of robot dogs to ICE
Ars Technica Jeremy Hsu
Boston Dynamics workers want the company to stop selling robot dogs to ICE. Executives won’t back down, even after 300-plus staff signed a protest letter.
Based on reporting by Ars Technica, Jeremy Hsu — read the original for the full story.
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Hundreds of Boston Dynamics employees are trying to stop the company from supplying robot dogs to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They signed a petition asking executives to cut off the deal, and the company has kept standing by it.
The petition went out in early September and carried more than 300 signatures, about half of them anonymous. Copies were shared with The Boston Globe and WBUR, and the letter says workers have been fielding shocked messages from friends and family who want to know whether the report is true.
The flashpoint came on September 25, when the Department of Homeland Security awarded a $1.3 million contract to a Connecticut company called Radeco. Radeco is set to provide ICE with modified versions of Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robots. That detail only sharpened the internal backlash, because the machines at issue are the company’s signature robot dogs.
Boston Dynamics has tried to calm the storm by saying the robots will not be weaponized. But the employees behind the petition aren’t buying that reassurance. Their argument is simpler: the risk to the company is too high to keep doing the deal, and they want executives to stop it now.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the old robotics problem in miniature: build a machine that looks cute enough for demos, then act surprised when people ask where it ends up. Companies love selling autonomy as neutral until a government customer shows up with a badge. Then suddenly everyone discovers principles, or the lack of them.
Read more about this at: Ars Technica
