Oklahoma and Alabama are now leveraging AI to power their automated vending machines dispensing live bullets across grocery markets.
The AI-powered bullet dispensers were first unveiled last Wednesday via Al.com across six Fresh Value stores in Oklahoma and Alabama for handgun, rifle, and shotgun ammunition.
Ammunition vendor American Rounds touted the AI vending machines as a way of "changing the landscape of ammunition sales" and making ammunition purchases more available to the public.
CEO Grant Magers assured that the ammo dispensers are all fully equipped with facial recognition software and a scanner to detect people's IDs, ensuring that products are theft-proof and can only be sold to buyers aged 18 and older.
The Tuscaloosa officials, one of the locations for the ammo dispensers, have already confirmed that the bullet kiosks have received legal approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
AI Becomes More Integrated in Gun, Weapon Market
The introduction of the AI-powered bullet vending machines only follows a growing trend of AI technology slowly becoming part of the weapon market in the US.
Potential military applications of generative AI have been surfacing over the past few months as the US government looks for ways to introduce the technology for personnel training and simulations.
The rollouts came despite growing concerns about the technology due to its high vulnerability to critical mistakes, especially when live firearms are involved.
AI-powered facial recognition software, for example, has been criticized oftentimes due to its tendency to misidentify people or resort to biases and prejudices prevalent in its training data.
Several states have even prohibited its use due to alarming reports of people being falsely charged due to AI's mistakes.
Due to the lack of standard regulation on its potential applications, local governments are having a hard time preventing the spread of AI into the weapon market.
Also Read : Detroit Compensates Wrongly Accused Man with $300,000; Updates Facial Recognition Technology
AI Being Used to Promote Gun Control
In the same manner how AI is being used to automate weapon sales, several advocacy groups and local governments are adapting the technology to push further gun control in concerned areas.
Last March, New York City started rolling out AI gun detection tools across major subway areas to curb crimes in the city.
This is in addition to advocacy groups that have turned to generative AI to power campaigns on gun control and moderation in the country.
