A Maryland high school student was placed under arrest after his school’s AI surveillance system mistook his bag of Doritos for a weapon. The incident took place Monday night when Taki Allen was sitting with his friends outside Kenwood High School, eating said bag of Doritos after a football practice.

According to Allen, eight cop cars rolled up on him and his friends with weapons drawn and ordered them facedown on the ground. Allen was then searched and released after it was discovered the “weapon” the AI identified was just a crumpled up bag of chips.

Does this crumpled bag of chips look like a gun to you?@RebeccaPryorTV has the story of how an AI gun detection device made a mistake on Monday, leading a student be handcuffed outside his Baltimore County school.https://t.co/KdJaF2jx68pic.twitter.com/va2EtEqmx4

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The school district later issued a statement to concerned parents, which claimed they attempted to “cancel [sic] the initial alert after confirming there was no weapon,” however, local police responded to the alert anyways.  

As high schools across the country lean on AI surveillance to keep their students safe, every now and then, someone eating a snack might be mistaken for a threat. And sadly, there is nothing we can do to prevent that.