AI Security Trial Went Wrong At Hinsdale South

DARIEN, IL – The head of security for Hinsdale South and Central high schools is not confident in AI's use for tracking problems in surveillance videos.

At least not yet.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, the district's security director, Geoffrey Cooker, noted the two campuses have 600 security cameras.

That prompted board member Jeff Waters to ask, "Has artificial intelligence shown up in this space yet to minimize the necessity to have humans scanning 600 screens?"

Cooker, a retired police officer, said vendors have approached the district, but such systems come with a price. The district, he said, has evaluated a couple.

He said he favored using effective AI to help scan videos.

"I still haven't seen a platform that I'm 100 percent confident in," Cooker said. "I still would like to have a human eye on that."

At South, an AI trial alerted to a student who appeared to have an AR-15 rifle.

"It sure looked like it, but what it was was his backpack strap," Cooker said.

The shadowing and pixelation made it appear as if the student had an AR-15, he said.

"The thing I would have had a hard time explaining or accepting is having an emergency response generated from that AI," Cooker said. "I'm not satisfied with the technology. It's getting better every year."