Dubai Wants A Quarter Of Its Police Force To Be Robocops By 2030

Judging by how the tech industry has become more and more invested in robotics and artificial intelligence, anyone who knows anything could already see robotic law enforcers coming. So when Dubai unveiled its own police robot, it wasn’t that big of a surprise. In addition, the middle east nation also wants the machines to make up a quarter of its police force by 2030.

The robot in question is actually a modified version of the REEM bots that were revealed back in 2011 by PAL, Futurism reports. It’s equipped with various sensors and cameras that feed footage and audio to a server in the robot’s command center. It is also meant to forward reports of crimes to actual police officers and settle fines.

Thanks to its facial recognition system and being able to speak up to nine languages, this literal Robocop can also be great for liaison or escort jobs. As such, it’s mostly going to be posted in malls, tourist spots, and other places with lots of people.

By 2030, Dubai is hoping that as much as 25 percent of its police force will be made up of these robots. They will mostly be working as desk tenants, performing receptionist jobs. Eventually, the country is hoping to create a fully functional robot that can also do actual police work or combat engagement.

In a recent CNN article covering the topic, the matter of ethics was brought up, which is always the case when robotics and AIs are involved. Situations such as robots arresting humans, for example, present a dilemma because a machine’s capability to interpret and administer laws will always be in question.

There’s also the matter of how much force is going to be used during arrests and apprehension. Some would argue that robots would actually exert more control than humans because of a lack of emotion while others would argue the opposite.