Minnesota State Capitol's new security system uses AI. Here's how it works
On the first day of the Minnesota Legislature, artificial intelligence is giving visitors and lawmakers at the State Capitol a new sense of security.
The new checkpoints are seamless, quick and with virtually no interruption. There are no concerns over a belt buckle setting off an alarm or taking items, like a wallet and cell phone, out of pockets. The pace and accuracy are all thanks to artificial intelligence.
"It was easy," said visitor Peg Lonnquist. "I got to a lot of sports games, and you have to do more to prepare for that."
Scuffy Paulson, of Rushford, approached the checkpoint with everything in his hands instead of his pockets.
"I had been through checkpoints before and assumed that you had to show everything metal that you had on you. (Security) said you just walk through. Pretty simple, pretty painless," said Paulson.
How do AI security checkpoints work?
"AI security detection works by analyzing the shape, the density, and the material composition of objects as people walk through a scanner," Dr. Manjeet Rege, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas, said.
The AI system is trained on thousands of examples of weapons and other banned items to know what they look like, what they're made of and where a person might carry them. That helps the system identify potential threats for a human security officer to then investigate.
It can even find things that could sneak past a metal detector, like a 3D printed weapon.
While accurate, these systems aren't perfect. A few years ago, a BBC study found the Evolv Technologies system struggled to detect large knives, missing 42% of them in a series of walk-throughs.
A student was even stabbed at a school after the system didn't detect a 7-inch knife. School officials then increased the system's sensitivity, according to a report, but that led to a 50% increase in false positive detections.
Given the issues, what assurances do people have that these AI security systems are an improvement over traditional metal detectors?
Their accuracy depends on high-quality training data and regular updates. No AI is perfect from day one, but it improves over time," said Rege, adding that the improvement will come from both human feedback and regular updates to its training data.
"It is not guessing. It is matching what it sees against learned examples, which allows it to detect a broader set of potential hazards and with a lot more greater precision," he said.
The technology has been deployed at sports stadiums like Target Field, as well as schools, hospitals and churches.
There are also countless success stories of guns and other weapons getting spotted at checkpoints.
Rege said AI-based screening is becoming the new standard in many sectors, but a hybrid model including metal detection and human involvement is part of the equation.
"The key point is that AI enhances human judgement rather than replace it," he said.
The security checkpoints at the Minnesota Capitol are found at four entrances. People with a valid permit to carry a firearm can still do so in the building.