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Artificial intelligence has been positioned as a potential solution to many of the world’s problems, and some schools have adopted A.I.-powered security systems that are designed to detect weapons. That includes a middle school in Florida that was recently placed on lockdown over a false alarm that was traced back to a clarinet.
Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has managed to infiltrate countless facets of life under the guise of its ability to outperform humans who would otherwise be tackling the wide variety of tasks it’s used for.
There are certainly plenty of cases where the technology is able to live up to that promise, but it’s a bit hard to argue it’s not overhyped do to the many, many instances where A.I. has been unable to reliably and consistently execute fairly straightforward procedures and doled out objectively dangerous advice to people searching for a solution to a pretty simple problem.
The concept of a security system that’s able to use A.I. to flag weapons on the grounds of a school might sound like a positive idea at first glance, and a number of learning institutions in the United States have teamed up with companies that offer that very service.
However, we’ve been treated to the latest piece of evidence that suggests they still leave a bit to be desired.
A middle school in Florida was placed on lockdown because A.I. confused a clarinet with a gun
Earlier this year, a high schooler in Maryland was held at gunpoint after wrapping up football practice when police responded to a call concerning a gun that turned out to be a bag of Doritos.
That was slightly more egregious than the false alarm that recently sparked a panic at Lawton Chiles Middle School in Oviedo, Florida, although students there were still subjected to a scare that they didn’t need to endure in hindsight.
According to WKMG, the school was placed on lockdown on Tuesday morning after a Code Red was automatically triggered by an A.I. system that detected a student who appeared to be holding a rifle. However, there was one small problem: the “rifle” was actually a clarinet.
The school’s principal addressed the incident in a letter that was sent to parents, saying, in part:
“A student was walking in the hallway, holding a musical instrument as if it were a weapon, which triggered the Code Red to activate. While there was no threat to campus, I’d like to ask you to speak with your student about the dangers of pretending to have a weapon on a school campus.”
You could argue this is a “better safe than sorry” situation, and I certainly agree you’re asking for trouble if you’re going to pretend like you have a weapon inside a school.
With that said, there’s only so much you can do to prevent middle schoolers from doing stupid things. This problem may have been resolved fairly quickly and without anyone being hurt, but I do think it’s also fair to be worried about the potential dangers of an overzealous police response to a call sparked by a computer that can’t differentiate between a gun and a musical instrument.