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Six-foot-tall robots are now monitoring inmates at a county jail in Georgia. These jailbots are part of a pilot program that relies on artificial intelligence like facial recognition to track inmate whereabouts. Former member station - from member station WABE, Chamian Cruz reports.
CHAMIAN CRUZ, BYLINE: In the Atlanta suburb of Cobb County, Sheriff Craig Owens says his three new assistants don't have names yet, but they do know his.
AUTOMATED VOICE #1: Sheriff Owens, we meet again.
CRAIG OWENS: We sure do.
CRUZ: Owens is chatting with a tall wheeled robot resembling the metallic hero R2-D2 from "Star Wars." It's equipped with several 360-degree cameras, night vision, heat detection, and it talks. Owens says all three jailbots will take turns patrolling the jail to ensure inmates are where they're supposed to be at all times.
OWENS: There'll be no reason for concern. The robots will not really come in contact with them. It'll be a mechanism, and it says, AI sentry robot on duty. Please stand back 20 feet, 30 feet. Do not touch.
AUTOMATED VOICE #2: (Inaudible)
CRUZ: During this recent demonstration at the jail, no inmates were in the halls or in their cells. Owens says the robots will be supervised remotely by jail staff, who can react to what they see. And inmates can talk to staff directly through the machines. The sheriff says the robots will especially help with medical emergencies and staffing shortages. They'll be closely watched by Terrica Ganzy. She's the executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights and has her doubts.
TERRICA GANZY: Anytime you get to a place where you have to bring in robots to monitor the jail, then that, for me, is a red flag that the facility and the people who are running it are not doing what they're supposed to do in terms of protecting people and caring for the people who are in their custody.
CRUZ: This 90-day pilot program is the first real-life trial of these jailbots, according to its manufacturer, DEKA Research and Development. Ganzy says she doesn't think robots will cure chronic understaffing in jails. But they could create privacy issues, due to a lack of guardrails.
GANZY: What limitations are on the manufacturer for keeping the data and any safeguards that are put in place for protecting the information of people who are incarcerated, who are being monitored without their consent?
CRUZ: And there is no clear answer to that, says Neal Parsons. He's a researcher for the Justice Department. Parsons says there are no federal or state laws yet regulating AI in jails, and that's why Cobb County's jailbot trial stands out.
NEAL PARSONS: And it may be facilitating the guardrails for other agencies and other correctional facilities down the road.
CRUZ: For now, the robots at the Cobb County Jail are operating for free, and the information and data they gather is stored with the manufacturer. Once the pilot is over, the sheriff will decide whether or not to keep them. But DEKA Research has not told him how much that would cost.
For NPR News, I'm Chamian Cruz in Atlanta.
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