Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Sunday, December 21st.

Today on Forbes, AI bathroom monitors, welcome to America's new surveillance high schools.

Inside a white stucco building in Southern California, video cameras compare faces of passers-by

against a facial recognition database.

Behavioral Analysis AI reviews the footage for signs of violent behavior.

Behind a bathroom door, a smoke detector-shaped device captures audio, listening for sounds of distress.

Outside, drones stand ready to be deployed and provide intel from above,

and license plate readers from $8.5 billion surveillance behemoth, flock safety, ensure the cars

entering and exiting the parking lot aren't driven by criminals. This isn't a high security

government facility. It's Beverly Hills High School.

District Superintendent Alex Churness says the striking array of surveillance tools is a necessity

and one that ensures the safety of his students. In the 2024-2020 fiscal year, the district

spent $4.8 million on security, including staff.

The surveillance system spots multiple threats per day, the district said.

Beverly Hills' apparatus might seem extreme, but it's not an outlier.

Across the U.S., schools are rolling out similar surveillance systems

they hope will keep them free of the horrific and unceasing tide of mass shootings.

There have been 49 deaths from gunfire on school property this year.

In 2024, there were 59, and in 2023, there were 45, per every town for gun safety. Between 2000 and

2022, 131 people were killed and 197 wounded at schools in the U.S., most of them children.

Given those appalling metrics, allocating a portion of your budget to state-of-the-art AI-powered

safety and surveillance tools is a relatively easy decision.

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