U.S. schools have poured money into digital surveillance, powered by artificial intelligence, hoping to prevent shootings or suicides. Students often have little idea that every assignment, message or social media post typed on a school device — or on their personal device, using school Wi-Fi — is monitored.
School officials say the technology has saved lives, but Sharon Lurye’s investigation showed its darker pitfalls, with cases of students sent to the office or even arrested based on false alarms.
Lurye uncovered a security flaw with a major surveillance tool. Gaggle was storing screenshots of students’ messages online without a password; the reporter’s work led Gaggle to change its system.
She also developed a tool that searches video transcripts of school board meetings. When AP piloted the tool, Lurye used it to identify a district where officials had used surveillance alerts 72 times to send kids to the hospital involuntarily for mental health evaluations — which can be traumatic for children.
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