Lesley Mathis says her daughter’s arrest began with a private online conversation among friends during school hours.
The 13-year-old Tennessee eighth grader was using her school-issued account to chat with classmates when the incident happened.
The conversation began when her daughter’s friends commented on her tanned complexion, according to Mathis.
They began calling her “Mexican,” even though she is not of Mexican descent.
When one of the friends asked what she was planning for Thursday, the student replied, “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s.”
Mathis says the comment was made as a joke in the context of the conversation but admits it was wrong and inappropriate.
“I know it was wrong,” Mathis said, describing the message as “stupid.”
She said context showed the remark was not a threat, adding, “It made me feel like, is this the America we live in? And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”
The message was intercepted by the school’s artificial intelligence surveillance system.
The software is programmed to scan all communications on student accounts and devices for language that could indicate potential violence, self-harm or other threats.
The AI flagged the message almost instantly, According to Mathis.
School officials were alerted, and law enforcement was contacted before the end of the morning.
Mathis says her daughter was removed from class, taken into custody and transported to a local juvenile detention center.
There, she says, the eighth grader was interrogated, strip-searched and placed in a jail cell overnight.
By the following day, Mathis says her daughter was released to the family.
She expressed frustration that the arrest happened so quickly, with no attempt to review the conversation in its entirety before involving police.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that the Tennessee school district involved in the case has not issued a public statement.
Officials have not confirmed whether the incident will lead to changes in district monitoring policies or procedures.
AI surveillance programs like the one used in the case are becoming increasingly common in U.S. schools.
More than 16,000 school districts nationwide use some form of digital monitoring software, according to publicly available industry data.
They are often provided by companies such as Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert.
These systems scan student-created digital content on school-provided accounts and devices.
The software searches for keywords or phrases that could suggest violent intent, bullying, self-harm or drug use. In some cases, they also monitor images, videos and file uploads.
Once a flagged term or phrase is detected, the system can automatically send alerts to designated school personnel.
In many districts, certain categories of alerts are also sent directly to law enforcement for immediate response.
Supporters of AI monitoring point to cases where these systems have been credited with stopping planned school shootings or alerting authorities to students expressing suicidal thoughts.
Critics argue that AI monitoring can lead to false positives, with innocent or joking comments treated as legitimate threats.
Mathis says her daughter’s case shows the risks of depending on software without human oversight.
She believes that reviewing the full conversation would have revealed that her daughter’s comment, while inappropriate, was not a credible threat.
The post Teen Girl Strip-Searched, Put in Solitary Confinement Then Sentenced to House Arrest Because School’s AI Misunderstood Joke appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: Jordyn M.
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