Can Artificial Intelligence Help Stop School Shootings?

For all their stunning frequency, school shootings remain a confounding horror. Not only is there little consensus on how to stop them--with suggestions ranging from restricting gun access to arming teachers--but there's even less certainty about why a student would open fire on his classmates. Now, some scientists are starting to explore if artificial intelligence (AI) could help find answers. The idea is that algorithms might be able to better analyze data related to school shootings, and perhaps even identify patterns in student language or behavior that could foreshadow school violence. The research is still in its early stages, and the prospect of using machines to predict who might become a school shooter raises privacy issues and other ethical questions associated with any kind of profiling, particularly since the process would involve children.