A 16-year-old student in Baltimore had a frightening experience when armed police surrounded him after an AI system wrongly identified a packet of crisps as a gun.
The teenager, Taki Allen, said he had just finished football practice and was eating a bag of Doritos. He slipped the empty packet into his pocket before heading home. Moments later, several police cars arrived. “They all came out with guns pointed at me, telling me to get on the ground,” Taki told local news outlet WMAR-2. Shocked and confused, he followed the officers’ orders and was soon handcuffed.
According to the Baltimore County Police Department, they responded based on information provided by the school’s AI surveillance system, which had flagged an alert for a potential weapon. The system’s warning was sent for human review, where it was confirmed to be a false alarm. However, the school principal missed that update and reported the threat to the safety team, who then called the police.
Police later said that Taki was handcuffed but not arrested. “The incident was safely resolved after it was determined there was no threat,” they stated.
The event has raised serious questions about the use of AI in school security. Many parents and experts are now urging schools to review how such systems are monitored and when police should be contacted.
Taki said the experience left him shaken. “Now I wait inside after practice. I don’t feel safe enough to go outside, especially eating a bag of chips or drinking something,” he shared.
This incident highlights the risks of relying too heavily on technology without human judgment, showing how one false alert can cause fear and trauma especially for young students.