American Schools Are Using AI To Catch Vaping

We are always wondering to see where Artificial Intelligence or AI is going to appear next. After all, we have seen so many promises. And the truth is that we are already seeing it being used in places where we didn't expect and with goals even stranger.

According to experts on the area, vaping is dominating underage people in the US. Since they are not allowed to smoke, they are vaping. However, they are doing it at school, in bathrooms. As soon as some schools started noticing this pattern, the board schools decided to act. So, we are seeing more and more schools across America using Artificial Intelligence in bathrooms to catch young vapers.

While pro-vapers state that these "experts" are only making a campaign against vaping, the reality is that there are more than 200 schools across 23 American states and Canada with these devices installed.

 These new AI devices detect the water vapor signatures that come from e-cigarettes, vaping pens, and other vaping devices. According to the manufacturer, the number of schools that are looking to implement a similar device is increasing each day.

The Fly Sense Device

 The Fly Sense device wasn't actually designed to fight vaping. The truth is that its original goal was to detect bullying at school since it reacted to elevated sound levels. However, when parents started to show concerns about vaping, the goal was changed and it is now only dedicated to detecting young vapers.

According to the manufacturer, when the Fly Sense detects the vape cloud, it sends an alert to the school administrator in real time. So, the administrator can then take a look to see what is going on on that specific bathroom. One of the best things about this AI device is that it is constantly being updated with the latest flavors on the market.

In addition to all this, there was also a government campaign that included placing posters in 10,000 high school bathrooms across the country with the "dangers" of vaping.

While these were all seen as campaigns by pro-vapers, they ended up being right. The truth is that no matter what was said by experts and the media, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that e-cigarette use among high school students in 2017 was 11.7%. This showed a substantial drop from 16% registered in 2015. According to the same report, vaping continues to be less popular than marijuana or alcohol within teens. In what concerns smoking, it reached a new low of 7.6% in 2017.

 The Use Of Ads

 The use of ads against vaping was another tactic adopted. However, and according to Mike Siegel, researcher and professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, "First of all if you look at this particular campaign, they are using the typical scare tactics which we often fall back on and we know that these scare tactics really don’t work on adolescents. They are going to take a look at these messages and they’re going to dismiss them because they don’t drive with what they see. When they inhale, they don’t have worms crawl through their skins….this is not something they see in their life.”

The researcher and professor actually encourages awareness of vaping to minors but he also understands that vaping is seen as rebellious on these ages and that vaping has few health implications, especially when compared to cigarette smoking.