WOODBINE, Iowa (KETV) — No school can have eyes on every camera feed at once. But using artificial intelligence, the Woodbine Community School District believes it has the next best thing to get a head start in responding to an active shooter situation. Superintendent Justin Wagner tells KETV that they’re using AI to buy time in the event of an emergency.

An alert comes when a gun is brandished in front of a camera. When the AI sees a gun, it’s sent to a command center at the company ZeroEyes. There, someone manning a computer will confirm it’s a gun. Then, the alarm is sent to school officials and nearby law enforcement with an exact location.

ZeroEyes Chief Operation Officer Rob Huberty said that happens in seconds, often minutes before a potential active shooter decides to pull the trigger. ZeroEyes is in hundreds of schools in 40 states, including some others in Nebraska and Iowa.

The AI is constantly trained by bringing different types of guns into a green screen room, which teaches the computers what a gun will look like. Superintendent Wagner said they’re not trying to keep up with the latest in safety technology, they’re trying to LEAD it, saying they can’t affort NOT to stay ahead of threats to the district.