School shooting survivor sues AI gun detection firm after system failed to spot weapon

校园枪击案幸存者起诉AI枪支检测公司，因系统未能识别武器

The injured teenage survivor of a January 2025 shooting at a Nashville, Tennessee high school recently sued the manufacturer of an “AI gun detection” system that failed to detect the handgun that left two dead, including the shooter. 2025年1月，田纳西州纳什维尔一所高中发生枪击事件，一名受伤的青少年幸存者近日起诉了一家“AI枪支检测”系统的制造商。该系统未能检测出当时导致包括枪手在内两人死亡的手枪。

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Davidson County court last month, the security company Omnilert either knew or should have known that there were “significant operational limitations in its gun detection system that could result in detection failures during actual emergencies, including limitations based on camera placement, proximity of the weapon to camera sensors, camera angle, lighting, and weapon visibility.” 根据上个月在戴维森县法院提交的诉讼文件，安防公司Omnilert已知晓或理应知晓其“枪支检测系统存在重大的操作局限性，可能导致在实际紧急情况下检测失败，这些局限性包括摄像头位置、武器与传感器距离、拍摄角度、光照条件以及武器可见度等因素。”

Omnilert cofounder Ara Bagdasarian declined Ars’ invitation to answer questions about the lawsuit. System Integrations, the other defendant in the case, which resold the Omnilert system, also did not respond to Ars’ request for comment. Omnilert联合创始人Ara Bagdasarian拒绝了Ars就此诉讼提出的置评邀请。该案的另一名被告——负责转售Omnilert系统的System Integrations公司——也未回应Ars的置评请求。

In 2023, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board approved a contract worth over $1 million to install an AI detection layer on top of its district-wide network of cameras and related security infrastructure. MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted said in a press conference following the January 2025 shooting that due to where the shooter was in relation to the cameras, the imagery “wasn’t close enough to get an accurate read and to activate that alarm.” 2023年，纳什维尔大都会公立学校（MNPS）董事会批准了一份价值超过100万美元的合同，旨在为其全区的摄像头网络及相关安防基础设施安装AI检测层。MNPS发言人Sean Braisted在2025年1月枪击案后的新闻发布会上表示，由于枪手所处位置与摄像头的相对关系，影像“不够清晰，无法进行准确读取并触发警报”。

The lawsuit frequently cites from marketing copy on Omnilert’s own website (as preserved on the Internet Archive just days before the shooting), alleging that the company oversold its capabilities: Omnilert further represented that AI-powered visual gun detection “could have mitigated or prevented tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School” by identifying threats earlier—invoking one of the nation’s most devastating school shootings to convey that its product would prevent similar tragedies… Omnilert made no mention of false alarms, false positives, or detection limitations of any kind on its pre-shooting commercial website. 诉讼多次引用了Omnilert官网上的营销文案（根据枪击案发生前几天互联网档案库的备份），指控该公司夸大了其产品能力：Omnilert曾宣称，AI视觉枪支检测技术通过更早识别威胁，“本可以减轻或防止玛乔丽·斯通曼·道格拉斯高中悲剧的发生”——该公司引用了美国历史上最具破坏性的校园枪击案之一，以传达其产品能够预防类似悲剧的信息……然而，在枪击案发生前的商业网站上，Omnilert对误报、假阳性或任何形式的检测局限性只字未提。

Using a specific set of situational conditions under which the detection system is effective is questionable, Chris Smith, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, told Ars. Smith was skeptical when he first heard about the concept of AI gun detection. “I just thought that it was kind of bullshit. I have a Tesla, and I think Tesla’s self-driving is bullshit,” he said. “It’s not ready for prime time! How could you possibly be entrusting of that? That’s your plan to protect kids from school shootings? Why is this any better than a metal detector?” 原告律师之一Chris Smith告诉Ars，仅在特定情境条件下才有效的检测系统是值得怀疑的。Smith在最初听到AI枪支检测概念时就持怀疑态度。“我当时觉得这简直是胡扯。我有辆特斯拉，我觉得特斯拉的自动驾驶也是胡扯，”他说。“这技术根本还没准备好！你怎么能把这种东西当成依靠？这就是你们保护孩子免受校园枪击的计划？这到底比金属探测器好在哪里？”

Some critics have raised concerns similar to Smith’s, noting that such public money could have gone elsewhere. “I’ve never seen a school shooting where there was a lack of notification,” said David Riedman, an education and security expert who maintains the K-12 School Shooting Database. The money that MNPS spent on deploying these detection systems, he added, “could have gone to a counselor or something else to a kid in crisis. Every decision that you make is pointing away resources from something else.” 一些批评人士提出了与Smith类似的担忧，指出这些公共资金本可以用于其他地方。“我从未见过哪起校园枪击案是因为缺乏通知而导致的，”维护“K-12校园枪击数据库”的教育与安全专家David Riedman表示。他补充说，MNPS用于部署这些检测系统的资金，“本可以用来聘请心理咨询师，或者为处于危机中的孩子提供其他帮助。你所做的每一个决定，都是在将资源从其他地方抽走。”

Smith also said that, to his knowledge, this is the first lawsuit of its kind brought against Omnilert or a similar company. “I thought it was important beyond Mr. Hanin’s own injuries to raise awareness of the whole situation,” he said. The lawsuit was first reported by WSMV in Nashville. Smith还表示，据他所知，这是针对Omnilert或类似公司提起的首例此类诉讼。“我认为，除了Hanin先生个人的伤害之外，提高人们对整个局势的认识也非常重要，”他说。该诉讼最初由纳什维尔的WSMV电视台报道。