FTC action against Evolv over AI weapons-screening claims and school contract lock-in

On 26 November 2024 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc., together with a stipulated order, over allegations that the Waltham, Massachusetts company deceptively marketed its AI-powered Evolv Express security screening system — including claims that the scanners would detect all weapons and ignore harmless personal items, and that artificial intelligence made the systems more accurate, efficient, and cost-effective than traditional metal detectors.

The complaint (Case No. 1:24-cv-12940) is where the operational detail sits. Express, sold since 2019, uses low-frequency electromagnetic fields and sensors; Evolv marketed it as “AI-driven,” “AI-powered,” and a “weapons detection” system rather than a metal detector, while, the FTC alleges, the scanners detect metallic objects and can alarm on non-weapons. Customers choose sensitivity settings that trade detection for false alarms. Evolv’s sales model is multi-year subscription contracts with no right of cancellation; the complaint states customers generally pay several million dollars, citing as an example an early-2023 school-board contract of $8 million over four years. School systems were a major channel: a February 2024 Forbes article quoting an Evolv executive is cited for Express in 700 school buildings in 40 states, 325,000 students passing through daily, and schools as 50% of Evolv’s business; Evolv’s own site as of June 2024 put the figure at over 800 school buildings.

Field performance, as alleged, undercut the seamless pitch. In October 2022, at a school in New York, a student was stabbed with a 7-inch knife that reportedly passed through an Express scanner; in the same school system, scanners allegedly failed to detect an off-duty officer’s service weapon while alarming on a lunchbox. After the stabbing, officials raised sensitivity, doubling the false-alarm rate to 50%. Elsewhere the system alarmed on Chromebooks, binders, and water bottles; some schools told students to remove items from bags, and some needed extra staff at opening times. In 2023 Evolv introduced a more sensitive “G” setting aimed at knives while admitting some knives would still be missed and false alarms and staffing needs would rise, and began recommending conveyor belts or hand “pass-around” of personal items — steps the FTC says make the setup more like traditional metal detection. Alleged marketing claims included detecting all weapons, ignoring harmless items without emptying pockets or bags, drastically reducing false alarms versus metal detectors, and cutting labour costs by up to 70%.

The stipulated order states that Evolv neither admits nor denies the complaint’s allegations except as needed for jurisdiction. It permanently enjoins unsupported performance and AI-related claims unless backed by competent and reliable evidence, and requires Evolv to notify defined K-12 “Customers” — schools or districts that purchased or contracted for Express between 1 April 2022 and 30 June 2023, with stated exclusions — of a right to cancel within 60 days of notice, owing no further sums after the effective cancellation date except fees then due. The Commission voted 5–0 to authorise filing. A March 2025 docket entry on the FTC case page records a motion to approve the proposed stipulated order; this draft treats the filed complaint and stipulated order text as the primary record and does not treat settlement as an admission of the underlying facts.

The pattern is overreach: AI-branded screening was sold as closing the gap between high security and a frictionless school entry line. The FTC’s case is that detection, false alarms, labour, and contract lock-in still behaved like a sensitivity dial and a multi-year subscription — constraints the marketing had pushed past.