(José Niño, Headline USA) A Fox News guest used the immediate aftermath of a deadly Minneapolis school shooting on Wednesday to promote an artificial intelligence surveillance system that critics likened to George Orwell’s “1984.”
Aaron Cohen, a former Israel Defense Forces operative turned actor, appeared on “Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher” less than 24 hours after a gunman killed two children and wounded 17 others at Annunciation Catholic School.
The shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, took his life after opening fire during morning Mass on Tuesday.
During the interview, Cohen pitched what he calls “Gideon,” describing it as “America’s first ever AI threat detection platform.” He told host Trace Gallagher that the system “scrapes the internet 24/7 using an Israeli grade ontology to pull specific threat language and then routes it to local law enforcement.”
“It’s a 24/7 detective that never sleeps, and it’s going to get us in front of these attacks,” Cohen said.
When Gallagher asked whether the platform would have detected the Minneapolis shooting, Cohen responded with certainty: “100%. I wish my program would already be up. We’re not launching until next week. I’ve got a dozen agencies on board Trace. I just unload a major northeast agency with over 2,700 sworn. This is America’s early warning system.”
However, multiple reports from outlets such as Redact indicate that Cohen’s “Gideon” platform does not actually exist as a functional system. According to the Redact report, Cohen is still in the fundraising stage and is still attempting to build a minimum viable product.
He has been using Fox News appearances in the last few months to pitch the concept and seek funding.
The timing of Cohen’s pitch drew immediate backlash from critics who questioned both the ethics of promoting a surveillance product so soon after a tragedy and the feasibility of the technology itself.
Some compared the proposed system to the dystopian surveillance state depicted in Orwell’s classic novel.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
