AI gun-detection flags Doritos bag at Kenwood High School

A Baltimore County high school student was handcuffed and searched after an artificial intelligence gun-detection system mistakenly identified a crumpled bag of chips as a firearm, prompting an armed police response on Monday evening outside Kenwood High School. The 16-year-old, identified as Taki Allen, said multiple police vehicles arrived at about 7:20 p.m., officers ordered him to the ground and detained him before finding no weapon.

Allen told reporters he had been with friends after football practice when officers approached with weapons drawn. "It was mainly like, am I gonna die? Are they going to kill me?" he said, describing being forced to his knees with his hands behind his back. Officers later showed him the image that triggered the alert; Allen said he was holding a Doritos bag that the system flagged as resembling a gun.

Baltimore County Police confirmed officers responded to a report of a suspicious person with a weapon and that the subject was searched and found not to be carrying any weapon. The county school system said its new AI gun detection software, installed last year, scans existing campus surveillance footage and issues alerts to school safety teams and...