AI software designed by Navy SEALs aims to spot guns before shots are fired

AI software aims to spot guns before shots are fired

A group of former Navy SEALs designed the AI software "Zero Eyes," designed to detect guns before a shot is fired.

SEATTLE, Wash. - Artificial intelligence is being used in more places than ever — but a group of former Navy SEALs says their technology is focused on one simple goal: stopping gun violence before it starts.

ZeroEyes is an AI-powered software designed to detect visible firearms on security cameras before a shot is fired. The company says its technology is currently being used in roughly 100 businesses, schools and buildings across Washington state, including places of worship, grocery stores and school campuses.

ZeroEyes co-founder Sam Alaimo, says the company was born out of military service — and a renewed sense of purpose.

"I met the co founders while we’re in the Navy," Alaimo said.

Alaimo met his co-founders in 2009. They served together in Afghanistan before transitioning out of the military years later.

"We wanted to have a good fight, to be of service and to work together and in 2018 the Parkland shooting happened," Alaimo said.

The Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, left 14 students and three staff members dead. Alaimo said the tragedy made the mission urgent and sparked a critical question.

"How do we take the security camera, which already exists in every school in America, outdoors and indoors, and make it proactive?" Alaimo said.

ZeroEyes does not use facial recognition and does not stream live video. Instead, when artificial intelligence detects a visible gun on an existing security camera, trained human analysts — all former military or law enforcement — verify the alert before it is sent out.

If confirmed, alerts are sent out within seconds.

"Within about three to five seconds, they’re getting an alert of that gun, the exact location, what the shooter looks like," Alaimo said.

That information is immediately shared with local law enforcement, including where the armed individual is located and what type of weapon they appear to be carrying. The goal, Alaimo says, is to find the person before shots are fired.

Here in Washington, the Camas School District is the only district ZeroEyes says it can publicly disclose as a client. District officials told FOX 13 they have been using the software district-wide for three years, inside all school buildings.

School leaders say the system has only been triggered by toy and prop guns so far — including during a school play — allowing a school resource officer to respond quickly and confirm there was no real threat.

Alaimo says the impact of the technology is unmeasureable.

"When we stop someone trying to walk into an elementary school with an assault rifle, we’ll never know the damage that was prevented when we get that individual apprehended by the police. That is rewarding every single time it happens," he said.

ZeroEyes says its technology is not meant to replace existing school safety measures, but to add another layer — one designed to buy precious time when it matters most.

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