AI is gradually being integrated into various aspects of daily life, but not all applications are successful. Recently, on October 20, police were dispatched to a high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, after an AI surveillance system misidentified a bag of Doritos as a firearm.

According to WMAR 2 News, multiple police cars arrived to investigate a potential threat. At around 7:23 PM, all students were checked, and thankfully, no weapon was found.

Afterward, officers discovered the blue bag of chips in the trash, realizing the error made by the Omnilert AI detection system, which monitors cameras for potential threats.

“I guess just the way you guys were eating chips… Doritos or whatever, it picked it up as a gun,” an officer explained to the students. One officer remarked, “AI is not the best” after the misunderstanding was resolved.

A spokesperson from Omnilert argued that the system functioned as intended, alerting human operators for verification. Superintendent Dr. Myriam Roger supported this explanation, stating the system’s purpose was to signal alerts for review.

In light of the incident, councilmen Iazzy Patoka and Julian Jones have expressed interest in reviewing the AI system’s performance. Jones stated, “Thank God it was not worse” and questioned how such a situation could happen.