Baltimore student handcuffed after AI system mistakes bag of chips as weapon
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Occurred: October 2025
Page published: October 2025
A Baltimore County high school student was handcuffed following an AI surveillance system mistakenly identifying his crumpled bag of chips as a gun, raising questions about the accuracy and reliability of the system.
What happened
What happened
Student Taki Allen was sitting outside Kenwood High School after football practice and was flagged by an AI-powered gun detection system that erroneously identified his Doritos bag as a weapon.
Police arrived with guns drawn, handcuffed him, and conducted a search before realising the error.
The incident caused the student emotional distress, humiliation, and trauma due to false imprisonment and unnecessary physical restraint.
Why it happened
Why it happened
Omnilert's Gun Detect system is designed to detect weapons using advanced visual recognition but misinterpreted the shape and positioning of the chip bag in Allen's hands.
The error highlights the lack of accuracy of these systems, and the lack of adequate human oversight in handling such critical alerts.
What it means
What it means
The incident reflects the dangers of overreliance on imperfect AI technology in sensitive environments like schools.
For the victim, it potentially means long-term psychological harm and loss of trust in school safety measures.
More broadly, it stresses the need for accountability, enhanced safeguards, and robust human review mechanisms to prevent AI-related harms and to protect individual rights against wrongful treatment.
System 🤖
System 🤖
Developer: Omnilert
Country: USA
Sector: Education
Purpose: Detect weapons
Technology: Computer vision; Context recognition; Machine learning
Issue: Accuracy/reliability; Autonomy; Human/civil rights
AIAAIC Repository ID: AIAAIC2077
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