Metal detectors have become a necessary security measure in many places, especially transportation stations. It prevents passengers from sneaking in weapons that can be used to harm another. Of course, the detectors will have to work to make that happen, and that might not be the case with the new AI scanners.

NYC's AI Metal Detectors Might Be Faulty

When the detection of objects that could fatally wound others relies on a certain machine, you would want it to be as accurate as possible. New York City is taking it a step further by using AI metal detectors that will not only detect but identify the object carried by a civilian.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced just last week that the subway systems would be testing out AI metal detectors. However, previous establishments that have used the scanners reported that the metal detectors resulted in false positives.

Installed back in 2022 at a hospital in the Bronx, the AI metal detectors created by Evolv were active for seven months. It managed to get alarms 50,000 out of 194,000 scans. What's concerning is that out of the 50,000, around 85% were false positives, as per The Verge.

Out of all the actual positives, only 295 were triggered by civilians who were carrying guns, knives, or other weapons. Most of the accurate scans were from police officers carrying firearms. 295 actual positives out of 50,000 set off alarms is not exactly inspiring confidence.

Evolv's AI metal scanners may have evolved since then given that it was two years ago, but that doesn't change the fact that the company is being probed by the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Even the company's shareholders no longer believe in the machines, given that several of them have filed a class action suit against Evolv. Hopefully, the New York City subway testing will yield better results to avoid confusion in a more crowded setting.

Read Also: NYC Subways Are Using AI to Detect Fare Evasion

Evolv's AI Metal Detectors

According to the company, the metal detectors use "safe, ultra-low frequency, electromagnetic fields and advanced sensors to detect concealed weapons," which applies to guns, bombs, and big tactical knives. The ones being installed in the subway could even determine the shape of the metal.

That means that it would do a better job of identifying what the metallic object could be, given that a smartphone's shape is far from that of a gun or a knife. This allows the detector to ignore civilians that are carrying metals other than weapons.

However, there are also other issues to deal with. According to Gizmodo, the metal detectors are not quick enough to set off an alarm when a weapon is detected. There is a three-second delay, which means that personnel will have to keep a close eye as well.

Officers are on standby carrying an iPad which is used to monitor the detectors. That way, they would be able to identify the person who triggered the alarm quicker, should the response time of the machine get delayed.

Related: NYC Will Soon Use AI-Enabled Metal Detectors on Subways