Artificial intelligence may be useful in predicting school violence, study shows

A pilot study indicates that artificial intelligence may be useful in predicting which students are at higher risk of perpetrating school violence. The researchers found that machine learning - the science of getting computers to learn over time without human intervention - is as accurate as a team of child and adolescent psychiatrists, including a forensic psychiatrist, in determining risk for school violence. "Previous violent behavior, impulsivity, school problems and negative attitudes were correlated with risk to others," says Drew Barzman, MD, a child forensic psychiatrist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and lead author of the study. "Our risk assessments were focused on predicting any type of physical aggression at school. We did not gather outcome data to assess whether machine learning could actually help prevent school violence. That is our next goal."