CROWNSVILLE, Md. (7News) \u2014 Ben Gehle was relaxing at home in his living room after work in late March when the alert first came across his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a student having a medical emergency and was on the floor, and I got that notification sitting on my couch at home,\u201d Gehle recalled in a recent interview with 7News.<\/p>\n
Gehle is in his tenth year as the Chief Technology and Operations Officer for Indian Creek School, a private school in Crownsville, Maryland. The alert he received in late March wouldn\u2019t have been sent to his phone at all had it not been for artificial intelligence-driven software installed last December as part of the school\u2019s security system.<\/p>\n
RELATED | CEO, founder explains Loudoun County School District new AI safety system<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n “Within a couple of minutes, we were able to deploy a resource in the school to go check on the student, call 9-1-1. Ultimately, the student was fine, but had we not known about that, and it was at an hour that we don\u2019t have a lot of people around, that could have ended much worse,” Gehle said. <\/p>\n Indian Creek school officials withheld the identity of the student involved in the medical incident out of concerns for his privacy.<\/p>\n Indian Creek installed the new security software as part of a contract with Bethesda, Maryland-based Volt AI, a tech startup that has worked for years in the corporate world but in recent months has expanded into the educational sector.<\/p>\n Now in twelve different states, Volt AI recently signed a five-year deal with Loudoun County Public Schools worth $1.1 million the first year, according to a Loudoun County schools spokesperson. Installation of the software in Loudoun County\u2019s 98 schools begins this fall.<\/p>\n In a statement, John Clark, LCPS’ Director of Safety and Security, called the new technology \u201ca practical and non-intrusive layer of security.\u201d<\/p>\n Gehle has already seen the results of how AI-driven security works in real time.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO | Loudoun County schools weigh security as community splits over more police presence<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The heart of the technology is its ability to train a virtual set of eyes on the 94 security cameras that cover the common areas of Indian Creek\u2019s campus. The school does not have cameras in its locker rooms, bathrooms, or classrooms, Gehle said.<\/p>\n \u201cMost schools, many companies, don\u2019t have the resources to have somebody looking at a camera every day, so having AI do that detection for you is like having a million eyes that you wouldn\u2019t ever normally have,\u201d Gehle said.<\/p>\n Volt AI CEO and co-founder Dmitry Sokolowski told 7News the company\u2019s proprietary software does more than monitor existing security cameras. He said it creates an understanding of what the physical world should look like and then flags anomalies, like a weapon in a school hallway, smoke from a fire, a person falling to the ground because of an accident or medical emergency.<\/p>\n The software can also provide police and security personnel with the ability to track a suspect in an active shooter incident, even if the shooter drops the weapon and moves throughout the school.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is a tool. It\u2019s just like any other tool. It helps people be more effective,\u201d Sokolowski said. \u201cWe started making those cameras be a tool that allows them to be at the right place at the right time and respond to the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n At Volt AI\u2019s Bethesda headquarters, a team of human validators constantly reviews incidents flagged by the AI model before deciding whether to alert clients. Many of the clients, like those in the education sector, have authorized the company to immediately contact 9-1-1 when a weapon is detected on site.<\/p>\n