It's a rough day for artificial intelligence advocates, not even a robot's job is safe in this economy. Somewhere an AI is updating its résumé after getting replaced by... well... regular cops.
The City of Dublin, Ohio has officially ended its pilot program with "DubBot," an autonomous security robot built by Knightscope, after determining it wasn't meeting the police department's operational needs. The robot spent nearly a year patrolling a downtown parking garage equipped with cameras, sensors, and an emergency call button, but according to city officials, it didn't lead to any arrests, criminal investigations, traffic citations, or incidents requiring officers to respond. The city will return the robot to Knightscope and receive a partial reimbursement under the terms of its agreement.
DubBot may have been pitched as the future of policing, but this time the future got sent back to the manufacturer. While autonomous security technology continues to evolve, Dublin officials decided this particular robot simply wasn't providing enough value to justify keeping it on patrol.