LIBN Quotes Nizich in Story About Using AI in School Safety

Through the perspectives of several experts across the technology industry, including Michael Nizich, Ph.D., ETIC director and adjunct associate professor of computer science, Long Island Business News examines the role that artificial intelligence (AI) can play in ensuring public safety, especially in schools, and the factors that need to be considered when weighed against protecting privacy.  

The article notes that when it comes to mass shootings, nearly half of all perpetrators leak their plans, often via social media. As such, some companies are test-piloting AI products that monitor various platforms constantly to identify potential threats. Yet experts raised concern about potential issues and unintended consequences of such web-scraping.

Suppose, Nizich said, “you have a kid who is a ‘good kid’ who makes a bad joke, and now the system is alerting the school that this might be a target.” In that same school, you might “have a really ‘bad kid’ that is smart enough to not make bad jokes” and then may not be flagged by the AI. He concluded that there may be “too many negatives for such a program to be a positive.”