Armed police storm high school after AI mistook Doritos for a weapon

A 16-year-old was eating a bag of Doritos after football practice. Little did he know he was going to be confronted by armed police just 20 minutes later.

Taki Allen, a student of Kenwood High School in Baltimore, was casually eating a bag of Doritos (flavour unknown) after practice.

Just 20 minutes later, a group of armed police officers swarmed the school and promptly handcuffed Allen.

Police officers charged at the teenager, screaming at him to “get on the ground,” Allen told WBAL-TV 11 News.

The officers made the teenager get on the ground so they could search him. Officers later found that he had no weapons on him and proceeded to show Allen the image that alerted the police to a possible weapon.

AI detectors placed around the school had detected Allen’s after-practice snack and alerted authorities that what he was holding in his hand was a weapon, not a bag of Doritos.

The teenager said that he was “just holding a Dortios bag” and was holding it with “two hands and one finger out,” which apparently made it look like a gun, Allen told WBAL-TV 11 News.

County Police said that at 7:20 pm, officers responded to the report at Kenwood High School regarding a "suspicious weapon” on the premises.

“Once on scene, the person was searched, and it was determined the subject was not in possession of any weapons, police told journalists.

High schools across Baltimore started using AI detection tools to identify potentially dangerous weapons on campuses in 2024.

These systems use school cameras to detect weapons and send alerts to the high school’s safety team as well as authorities.

While AI can be good at catching potential suspects in certain cases, AI surveillance has become a big problem and has led to false arrests.

This technology isn’t new, as there have been many reports of AI being used on campuses to catch people smoking, and city-wide to stop pranksters.

However, the use of AI in states, schools, and society as a whole may further the government's ability to spy on us without our knowledge.

It’s highly likely that AI technology will help the government conduct mass surveillance across various states and will ultimately automate surveillance.

But, as we’ve seen with Taki Allen’s case, AI has a habit of confusing ordinary objects with deadly weapons, turning innocent people into criminals instantly.

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