--- title: "NYPD Purchases Expensive AI Metal Detectors That May or May Not Actually Work" description: "The NYPD is back at it again, wasting taxpayer dollars on AI metal detectors for the subway in its latest effort to look busy." date: "2024-03-28" modified: "2024-03-28" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/nypd-ai-metal-detectors-subway" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "crime" - "metal detectors" - "mta" - "nypd" --- # NYPD Purchases Expensive AI Metal Detectors That May or May Not Actually Work ![The NYPD is back at it again, wasting taxpayer dollars on AI metal detectors for the subway in its latest effort to look busy.]() *\Image: @BaharOstadan via X / Futurism\* In its latest effort to [waste taxpayer funds]() that could be spent fixing the [famously-broken]() Metropolitan Transit Authority subway system, the New York Police Department has decided to buy AI metal detectors made by a company that's currently under federal investigation. As [*Gothamist* reports](), New York's [easily-]()[impressed]() mayor, Eric Adams, declared the pricey AI-enabled metal detectors made by the Michigan company Evolv are a massive upgrade. "This is our Sputnik moment," Adams enthused during a press conference at the Fulton Transit Center, a massive downtown subway stop located steps away from [the mall]() that lives on three floors of the rebuilt World Trade Center. As [prior reports]() about Evolv's [metal detectors]() indicate, the company claims to use some sort of secret-sauce AI to identify hidden weapons — though as a [*BBC* investigation]() in 2022 about the company's products revealed, there are questions about whether it actually works. "Like when Kennedy said we’re going to put a man on the Moon," the mayor continued as hungry commuters no doubt milled above him at the subway station's [top-floor Shake Shack](). "Let’s bring on the scanners." If there's one thing New York knows how to do, it's spending [gobs of money]() on a [bunch of bull]() nobody needs or asked for — and in the case of the Evolv scanners, the city's denizens will likely be footing a substantial bill. As the [*New York Focus* reported]() back in 2022, the "AI-enabled" scanners cost between $2,000 and $3,000 per month to operate per unit, a range that would constitute a "good price" for a [studio apartment]() in most parts of the Big Apple. Because Evolv generally requires a four-year contract, that would bring the total up to $120,000 to rent the equipment out, and that's just for *one* of the company's thingamajigs. And speaking of those wares — Evolv is, as *Gothamist* mentions, under investigation by the [US Securities and Exchange Commission]() for alleged false advertising after the aforementioned [*BBC* report]() found that its scanners aren't nearly as "intelligent" as the company claims. Evolv has since updated its language in its UK advertising. But for some reason, Adams still insisted on contracting with the company amid an apparent spate of violence in the subway system that's prompted increased surveillance, albeit with very little actual deterrence. Just days after New York's Gov. Kathy Hochul announced earlier this month that she would be [activating the state's National Guard]() to patrol the subway system in tandem with the NYPD's [large-and-growing]() force of [fare evasion cops]() to address the rash of violence in the MTA, a man was stabbed and [shot with his own gun]() in a packed subway car. Notably, police didn't arrive on the scene for several subway stops as the in-car chaos ensued — and only apprehended the people involved in a station that happens to have an [NYPD office inside it](). As the [fallout from that debacle]() continues, there's no doubt that the city and its police force want to look like they're doing something to address the understandable panic experienced by straphangers in the wake of such high-profile violent incidents. But given how the NYPD's [recent forays]() into [Big Tech expenditures]() have gone, there's reason to believe that this one might be a sad fart. More on NYPD tech: [*NYC Beaches Deploying Drones to Drop Flotation Devices for Drowning Swimmers*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()