Cops alerted by AI gun detection system arrest high school student holding bag of Doritos — eight cars sent to disarm chip-toting teen

A young student was left traumatized after being ordered to the ground and handcuffed by police because an AI gun detection system erroneously called the cops on his Doritos habit.

Taki Allen ate the bag of chips while waiting to be picked up from Kenwood High School, Baltimore, last Monday night (Oct 20), reports WBAL-TV 11 News. Football practice was over, and the student was sitting with friends outside the school. However, his crunchy repast triggered the school’s security camera Omnilert AI system.

20 minutes after he began chomping on the savory corn-based treat, eight police cars arrived in response to Allen’s snack habit. He was quickly ordered to his knees by armed police, and his hands were cuffed behind his back. “It was a scary situation,” Allen explained to WBAL-TV.

It didn’t take long before the AI error became apparent to all involved. Police were pleasingly transparent about the AI snafu, though. According to the student’s interview with local news, he was shown an image explaining the sizable police response. However, the picture puzzled him. “I was just holding a Doritos bag — it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun,” Allen said to WBAL-TV 11 News.

Sadly, the TV news cameras didn’t turn their attention to Allen’s explanatory gesturing when he seemingly demonstrated the pose that got him cuffed. We also haven't seen a copy of the AI-triggering scene from the night. So, we are left with a cautionary tale without clear guidance about how to safely cradle a bag of Doritos.

Omnilert AI at fault?

Omnilert was the AI gun detection software company behind this high-profile firearms hallucination. The firm refused to give WBAL-TV 11 News any comment on the emergency response callout error. It said that it “doesn't comment on internal school procedures” (WBAL-TV quote, not Omnilert’s exact words).

We checked out Omnilert’s School Security Systems product pages for more information about how its product works. One of the big attractions of Omnilert is that it can piggyback on arrays of security cameras that are already installed. Its publicity material name checks school shooting tragedies like Uvalde, Sandy Hook, and Parkland, thus implying that Omnilert might have prevented them.

Omnilert’s active shooter and gun detection system is purportedly a three-step process. After a positive AI gun detection, there supposedly follows a human verification step, before the automated notification and emergency response.

(Image credit: Omnilert)

(Image credit: Omnilert)

(Image credit: Omnilert)

(Image credit: Omnilert)

However, we can’t point to any of those processes being in error if the police also thought the Doritos-in-hand photo was ‘gun-like’ enough to send a response team of eight cars. The WBAL-TV report suggests that the officers had a copy of the AI-triggering scene with them, to show the astonished Allen, but we aren't 100% clear about the reveal timeline.

Omnilert and the school have offered to provide counseling to the students involved in the incident.

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