Robot dogs equipped with AI-integrated cameras are being deployed in the US to patrol data centers, safeguard cash crops, and police sports stadiums, according to new reporting by Business Insider. The cost to cover one 24/7 guard shift is anywhere from $80,000 to $130,000 cheaper per year when contracting robot dogs over human security officers. This poses a threat to the nation's security guards, an essential role providing low-barrier employment for some 1.3 million people. A report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center states that about 60.8 percent of those roles are filled by people of color, while 27.8 percent of guards are 55 or older. The median annual wage was $38,390 as of 2024. Damon Henry, CEO of robot dog company Asylon, told BI that training and staffing humans is "super inconsistent, and it’s a big burden on the business." Henry has about 50 robots deployed across 25 customers nationwide. Enrique Lopezlira, director of the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Low-Wage Work program and co-author of the report, told BI that the realistic near-term effect is not that guards are replaced, but that "the human role is going to be pushed toward those hardest, higher-stakes parts of the work."