Anyone else tired of AI?

[GenesisNemesis]

This will only get more common.

AI software mistakes high school student's bag of chips for a weapon

Taki Allen was sitting outside Kenwood High School with friends, eating a bag of chips after football practice on Monday. Around 20 minutes later, cops showed up with guns, walking toward Allen. "They made me get on my knees, put my hands behind my back and cuff me. Then, they searched me and...

www.wbaltv.com

 

[barbos]

Sorry, this content is not available in your region.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Sorry, this content is not available in your region.

Here's the full thing:

An artificial intelligence detector led police to believe a person was armed with a weapon at a Baltimore County school — when it turns out, they had a bag of chips.

Taki Allen was sitting with friends Monday night outside Kenwood High School, eating a bag of chips after football practice. About 20 minutes later, police officers showed up with guns, walking toward Allen.

"It was like eight cop cars that came pulling up for us. At first, I didn't know where they were going until they started walking toward me with guns, talking about, 'Get on the ground,' and I was like, 'What?'" Allen told WBAL-TV 11 News.

Allen said police told him an AI detector thought his bag of chips — which he crumpled and placed in his pocket when he was finished — was a weapon.

"They made me get on my knees, put my hands behind my back, and cuffed me. Then, they searched me and they figured out I had nothing," Allen told WBAL-TV 11 News. "Then, they went over to where I was standing and found a bag of chips on the floor."

Police showed Allen the picture that triggered the AI detector.

"I was just holding a Doritos bag — it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun," Allen told WBAL-TV 11 News.

County police sent a statement Tuesday afternoon to WBAL-TV 11 News, saying: "On Monday evening, at approximately 7:20 p.m., officers assigned to Precinct 11-Essex responded to Kenwood High School following a report of a suspicious person with a weapon. Once on scene, the person was searched and it was determined the subject was not in possession of any weapons. I would refer you to BCPS regarding questions pertaining to Omnilert."

Last year, Baltimore County high schools began using a gun detection system that employs AI to detect potential weapons by utilizing existing school cameras. The system can identify a possible weapon and send an alert to the school safety team and law enforcement.

"Nobody wants this to happen to their child. No one wants this to happen," said Lamont Davis, Allen's grandfather.

In a letter to parents after the incident, the school's principal said:

"I am writing to provide information on an incident that occurred last night on school property. At approximately 7 p.m., school administration received an alert that an individual on school grounds may have been in possession of a weapon. The Department of School Safety and Security quickly reviewed and canceled the initial alert after confirming there was no weapon. I contacted our school resource officer (SRO) and reported the matter to him, and he contacted the local precinct for additional support. Police officers responded to the school, searched the individual and quickly confirmed that they were not in possession of any weapons. We understand how upsetting this was for the individual that was searched as well as the other students who witnessed the incident. Our counselors will provide direct support to the students who were involved in this incident and are also available to speak with any student who may need support.

"Please know that ensuring the safety of our students and school community is one of our highest priorities. We work closely with Baltimore County police to ensure that we can promptly respond to any potential safety concerns, and it is essential that we all work together to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all Kenwood High School students and staff."

WBAL-TV 11 News reached out to Omnilert, the AI gun detection software company used by Baltimore County Public Schools, but the company said it doesn't comment on internal school procedures.

 

[TV and credit cards]

AI in general? No. The half baked deployment of it, perhaps. Like anything else, as long as there is a willing buyer, there will be someone to sell the product. Look how long it’s been taking for self driving vehicles to crawl out of the gate. Are we sick of that yet? Elon is pushing this “Mad Max Mode” now. I guess it rolls through stop signs like the rest of us.
Like everything else in the US, regulation follows rollout. So we suffer for a time.

 

[Shadowy Man]

To be fair, cops have been mistaking mundane objects as weapons long before AI came around.

 

[ZiprHead]

Nowhere in the article did I see an apology by the police to the student.

ETA: Nor the school principal.

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

I would say the big problem with this incident is not AI, but the way American police and schools operate. At least this time it wasn't a case of shoot first, ask questions later, and it seems that the actual police involvement occurred in a sensible manner.

 

[pood]

Teaching with AI, lol.

 

[ideologyhunter]

I hate the AI customer sales reps who talk to me with folksy voices, adding "um"s and "er"s, repeating things I just said and throwing me compliments. It's a hall of mirrors experience that leaves me unsettled, empty, and sometimes sullen. This will obviously become more and more the background to daily life, and the kids growing up with this will not find it alienating, as I do. Hard to know all the ramifications of this, in education, politics, business, etc. Last month (Sept. 29 issue) the New Yorker ran a piece about AI used by doctors to diagnose your condition. Turns out to be a mixed benefit at this point -- AI is good at suggesting a range of possibilities and throwing out the improbable answers, but not necessarily at finessing its judgments the way a doctor conducting a physical exam might do.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Nowhere in the article did I see an apology by the police to the student.

ETA: Nor the school principal.

By law, the adult closest to the student at the time of the incident is required to apologized.
The janitor has been charged.

 

[Toni]

I'm not a fan. And that's not a surprise. The development of AI has depended a great deal upon the intellectual theft of human creators: artists, writers, even actors. I find that absolutely morally reprehensive and indefensible. Because, after 40+ years of being told that liberal arts are worthless, we've come to revere tech to a degree that denigrates the value of human creativity, human empathy, humanity itself. Do you like having a POTUS who is controlled by billionaires who are wholly invested in their vision of the world, controlled by AI. And themselves? You know: people who don't care about humans starving to death or dying children.

I'm not actually a luddite, although I know I sound like one. Years ago, my first genuine science teacher warned us that one of the worst things that humans could do was to develop the technology to extend human life without simultaneously providing the means to help limit population growth through birth control. This was radical back in the olden days when I was barely adolescent. But the point stands: developing technology usually happens at a much faster rate than the rate at which humans explore and investigate the consequences of the new technology/advances. Easy example: DDT controlled mosquitoes which in turn tremendously reduced the transmission of malaria and the death and ill health and economic drain the disease caused. If you have ever had or know someone who has had malaria, you may be familiar with the toll it takes on health and since it most severely affects young children, brain development/educational attainment. So, DDT is a great thing, right? Sure, unless you take into account the environmental damage done and the damage done to humans and other apex consumers who ingest small amounts of DDT when consuming anything contaminated by DDT. DDT is not water soluble: it is not excreted in urine. Instead, it is fat soluble and accumulates in fatty tissues. Again, it is not eliminated if, suppose, one diets away 30 lbs. Nope. It's just more concentrated. Which affects humans and a lot of wildlife which in turn affects plants, and every living thing, to some extent.

AI is DDT but with the twist that its use is purported to help humanity but the reality is that it mostly is helping billionaires become trillionaires. You know: people who are beyond the reach of laws that affect us mere mortals. AI also demands tremendous amounts of energy, and those demands are being met by building large energy centers that require tremendous amounts of water. AI is killing our environment.

AI is not making our lives better. It's not designed to make our lives better. It's designed to make immensely wealthy people more wealthy. It's not taking over the dangerous, back breaking work that we actually need, in order to allow even poor humans to pursue less hazardous work (for better pay and more security). Nope: It seeks to take over the creative sectors. I understand it's a cool toy and all of that but it's also souless and again, designed by and for the benefit of billionaires who do not care even a tiny bit about their fellow humans or anything except 'winning' and having more cool stuff---produced by peons like us.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

AI is ass. It can't even get autocorrect right. Still though, it's ruining art/creativity, and is screwing up professions across the board.

 

[Toni]

I hate the AI customer sales reps who talk to me with folksy voices, adding "um"s and "er"s, repeating things I just said and throwing me compliments. It's a hall of mirrors experience that leaves me unsettled, empty, and sometimes sullen. This will obviously become more and more the background to daily life, and the kids growing up with this will not find it alienating, as I do. Hard to know all the ramifications of this, in education, politics, business, etc. Last month (Sept. 29 issue) the New Yorker ran a piece about AI used by doctors to diagnose your condition. Turns out to be a mixed benefit at this point -- AI is good at suggesting a range of possibilities and throwing out the improbable answers, but not necessarily at finessing its judgments the way a doctor conducting a physical exam might do.

Sometimes, the improbable answers are the right ones. Even in medicine.

 

[robnisch]

The South Park episode on AI was spot on!

 

[barbos]

Why did not "meat-bags" with actual guns double check the photo "tin-can" thought was a gun before wasting their time and fuel?

 

[Swammerdami]

In a letter to parents after the incident, the school's principal said:

"I am writing to provide information on an incident that occurred last night on school property. At approximately 7 p.m., school administration received an alert that an individual on school grounds may have been in possession of a weapon. The Department of School Safety and Security quickly reviewed and canceled the initial alert after confirming there was no weapon. I contacted our school resource officer (SRO) and reported the matter to him, and he contacted the local precinct for additional support. Police officers responded to the school, searched the individual and quickly confirmed that they were not in possession of any weapons. We understand how upsetting this was for the individual that was searched as well as the other students who witnessed the incident. Our counselors will provide direct support to the students who were involved in this incident and are also available to speak with any student who may need support.

"Please know that ensuring the safety of our students and school community is one of our highest priorities. We work closely with Baltimore County police to ensure that we can promptly respond to any potential safety concerns, and it is essential that we all work together to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all Kenwood High School students and staff."

School's principal either speaks "with a forked tongue" and/or should enroll in one of his own 10th-grade classes in English composition.

By default, narratives narrate events in chronological order. So, in his account the "initial alert" was "quickly ... canceled." Then, AFTER the quick cancellation, the local precinct was contacted and "police officers" showed up.

We all know from reports that the student was handcuffed, but principal never admits that, only applauds himself for "maintain[ing] a .. welcoming environment." If I were the principal I might mention the lawsuit I'd just initiated to recover payments made to the fraudulent system that made the stupid misidentification, but maybe that's just me.

Photos of Taki Allen, the alleged gun wielder, can be found on the 'Net. Yep, I can see why he might look like a gun wielder.

 

[bilby]

To be fair, cops have been mistaking mundane objects as weapons long before AI came around.

To be fair, the second amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, implies that mere posession of a firearm is insufficient cause for any kind of intervention by police.

If they believed (for any reason) that he might be bearing arms, they would also need either compelling evidence that he was not permitted to do so*, or a warrant from a judge, before detaining or searching him.







* Of course, being on school grouds might automatically constitute such lack of permission, but if a rule exists that says that weapons are prohibited on school grounds, that rule is almost certainly itself unconstitutional. Which is insane, and maybe even a good reason to eliminate the second amendment, but it is nonetheless still the plain consequence of the Bill of Rights as it currently reads.

 

[Swammerdami]

To be fair, the second amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, implies that mere posession of a firearm is insufficient cause for any kind of intervention by police.

If they believed (for any reason) that he might be bearing arms, they would also need either compelling evidence that he was not permitted to do so*, or a warrant from a judge, before detaining or searching him.

Perhaps you neglected to click and view a photo of the victim. The idea that the Second Amendment applies to blacks is simply a myth. Several blacks have been shot dead for simply being in "legal" possession of a fire-arm.^* Even the MAGGOTs know that much, at least the few with 90+ IQs.

* - In at least one case, the mistakenly-shot black (who hadn't even touched or reached for his weapon) might have been saved, but he was made to bleed out, while his girl-friend was prevented from calling an ambulance.