FTC: Evolv Oversold Abilities of AI-Powered Weapon Detector

The FTC has accused Evolv Technologies of overstating the capabilities of its in-school weapons-detection system.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Tuesday (Nov. 26) that it wants to ban Evolv from making unfounded claims about its products’ ability to detect weapons by using artificial intelligence (AI).

In addition, the regulator’s proposed settlement order would require the company to give some of its K-12 school customers the option to cancel their contracts, which generally have customers signed into multi-year deals.

“The FTC has been clear that claims about technology — including artificial intelligence — need to be backed up, and that is especially important when these claims involve the safety of children,” Samuel Levine, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a news release. “If you make those claims without adequate support, you can expect to hear from the FTC.”

Evolv issued a statement Tuesday saying it had collaborated with the commission to resolve the matter, and was “pleased that the FTC did not challenge the fundamental effectiveness of our technology.”

The company argued that the FTC was more concerned with how it had marketed its product. Evolv also said it had agreed to offer a limited number of its school clients the option to cancel their contracts.

According to the FTC, Evolv said that its Express scanners — used in schools, hospitals and stadiums — would detect all weapons and misleadingly claimed that its use of AI made its screening system superior to traditional metal detectors.

However, the FTC alleges, the scanners repeatedly missed weapons in schools while flagging common, harmless items like laptops and water bottles.

“For example, Evolv’s Express scanners reportedly failed to detect a seven-inch knife brought into a school in October 2022 that was used to stab a student,” the FTC said. “Afterwards, school officials increased the system’s sensitivity settings, prompting a 50% false alarm rate.”

To reduce false positives, Evolv last year debuted a more sensitive setting for Express users to detect more knives, but still said some knives will be missed, more false alarms will happen, and more staff may be required to operate the machines.

The case against Evolv is the latest example of the FTC’s effort to crack down on companies for making exaggerated or bogus claims about AI products. In September, the watchdog announced “Operation All Comply,” a law enforcement sweep targeting companies that use “AI hype” or sell AI technology that can be used in misleading and unfair ways

The commission said in July it would use “all the tools at its disposal” to oversee the rise of AI tools, and would take action “against companies that deceive users about their use of AI or use AI in unfair ways.”