A million-dollar artificial intelligence project aimed at keeping guns out of Miami-Dade schools escaped the Governor’s veto pen, but three small-dollar appropriations to do the same in other counties weren’t as lucky.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed the 2026-27 state budget after slashing $1.7 billion, including $810 million worth of projects and another $900 million in contingent spending authority.
Among the casualties were three procurements for an AI-backed school safety service developed by ZeroEyes, a Pennsylvania-based company that markets firearm detection software that piggybacks onto the CCTV systems already wired into schools.
Lawmakers filed numerous local funding requests seeking to bring the platform to county school districts across Florida, ranging from $15,000 to $3 million.
Only four projects survived this year’s protracted appropriations process: Franklin ($15,000), Hernando ($240,000), Seminole ($250,000) and Miami-Dade, the latter of which received $1 million rather than the $3 million originally sought in requests filed by Sen. Shevrin Jones (SF 1403) and Rep. Alex Rizo (HF 1964).
Founded in 2018 by former Navy SEALs and technology executives in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, ZeroEyes says its platform uses “cutting-edge video analytics” to detect guns. While AI takes the lead in flagging potential weapons, the company says every detection is immediately reviewed by a person before any alerts are sent to school officials or law enforcement.
The company, which also markets to public transit systems, said it had made more than 1,000 verified detections across all monitored sites since the platform’s full rollout in 2023.
Among the selling points touted by ZeroEyes is that it does not use facial recognition technology nor does it store any biometric identifiers. Additionally, human review only occurs after AI flags what it believes is a gun with school CCTV feeds otherwise not under constant human scrutiny.
According to the Miami-Dade funding request, the district previously piloted the technology and was seeking state assistance to deploy it systemwide. The request — all of it for server costs — said ZeroEyes would be required to report the total number of detections on campuses as a performance measure.
Registrations show ZeroEyes retained a half-dozen lobbyists during the 2026 Session. The lineup includes Kenya Cory, Jack Cory and Erin Ballas of Public Affairs Consultants as well as David Browning, Mercer Fearington and Clark Smith of The Southern Group, the latter of which has topped Florida Politics’ Top 25 leaderboard for several quarters running.
Drew Wilson is Vice President of Florida Politics, where he helps lead a talented team that produces must-read newsletters including Sunburn, Takeaways from Tallahassee, and Diagnosis. A University of Florida alumnus, he began his career at The Independent Florida Alligator — the nation’s largest student-run newspaper and a training ground for many of Florida’s top political reporters. He later served as a business correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter, then returned to Tallahassee to cover the state economy and Legislature for LobbyTools and The Florida Current, before segueing to Florida Politics, where he’s been for more than a decade. He spends too much time workshopping zingers for Capitol Directions — and not enough time outdoors.
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