This week's AI doesn't work at all story

Headline in the Washington Post: 

A school locked down after AI flagged a gun. It was a clarinet.

From the article: 

Some school safety and privacy experts said the recent incident at the Florida middle school is part of a trend in which threat detection systems used by schools misfire, putting students under undue suspicion and stress.

“These are unproven technologies that are marketed as providing a lot of certainty and security,” said David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database. 

Even more remarkable is the response of the company: 

 “We don’t think we made an error, nor does the school,” Alaimo said. “That was better to dispatch [police] than not dispatch.”

To leave out what sending schools unnecessarily into lockdown does for student and staff mental health, actual student safety, not to mention their education, demonstrates how little this industry actually cares for the well-being of students.

And never forget: this is indeed an industry. Fear sells.