Concerns over AI surveillance in schools are intensifying after armed officers swarmed a 16-year-old student outside Kenwood High School in Baltimore when an AI gun detection system falsely flagged a Doritos bag as a firearm.
Taki Allen was hanging out with friends after football practice on October 20 when multiple police cars suddenly pulled up.
“It was like eight cop cars that came pulling up for us,” Allen told WBAL-TV 11 News. “They started walking toward me with guns, talking about ‘Get on the ground,’ and I was like, ‘What?’”
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“They made me get on my knees, put my hands behind my back, and cuff me. Then they searched me and found nothing,” he said.
Allen was handcuffed at gunpoint. Police later showed him the AI-captured image that triggered the alert. The crumpled Doritos bag in his pocket had been mistaken for a gun.
“It was mainly like, am I gonna die? Are they going to kill me? “They showed me the picture, said that looks like a gun, I said, ‘no, it’s chips.’”
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Fox/screenshot Taki Allen doesn’t want to return to school after the incident.
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