Hello, my dear followers! Today I have a funny story to share with you about an AI gun detection company that name-dropped Disney in its successful pitch to New York City.

When Mayor Eric Adams was first introduced to Evolv, the AI gun detection company, they mentioned potential places the scanners could be used, such as hospitals, schools, Times Square, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. What caught Adams’ attention was Evolv’s mention of another major client: Disney.

Evolv’s co-founder shared in an email that Disney had been using their systems successfully since 2014 at their parks. This information seemed to intrigue Adams and led to the city testing out Evolv’s scanners in various locations.

Despite some disappointing results from initial tests, Adams announced plans to test the gun detectors on the subway. Interestingly, Evolv’s pitch did not include public transit as a use case for the sensors, but it seems Adams saw some parallels between Disney’s theme parks and the subway system.

One possible similarity could be the high volume of foot traffic both Disney parks and the subway experience. Evolv’s systems are capable of scanning thousands of guests per hour, making them suitable for busy locations like theme parks and transit hubs.

Disney has expanded its use of Evolv scanners since first testing them at Disney Springs in Florida. With Magic Kingdom seeing over 46,000 visitors per day and the NYC subway averaging millions of riders daily, it’s clear that the scale of operations differs between the two, but there may still be valuable lessons to learn from Disney’s experience with Evolv technology.