Tucked inside a former South Memphis elementary school is a room with 18 televisions and 30 computers showing live footage of campuses across the state’s largest public school district.
This is Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ new real-time safety center, where leaders say 20 trained staff will monitor video feed and use artificial intelligence tools around the clock to more quickly coordinate emergency responses. It’s part of a yearslong project to overhaul the district’s security system, which includes upgrading cameras at every school building to include AI detection technology.
At a grand opening of the safety center Thursday, MSCS leaders dodged questions about how AI technology is being used in the new cameras. It’s unclear how much money the district spent on that technology and renovations to the old Alton Elementary school building…