Artificial intelligence is reshaping security, changing how facilities managers monitor buildings, identify threats, and respond to emergencies across multifamily housing, commercial office buildings, healthcare, hospitality, and educational campuses. AI-enabled surveillance offers faster threat detection and continuous monitoring, but it isn’t infallible.

False alarms from mistaking brake lights for fire to incorrectly flagging suspicious behavior disrupt operations, erode occupant trust, and overwhelm security teams. But don’t abandon AI. Experts say facilities leaders need thoughtful implementation with strong governance, quality data, and human oversight.

“AI is most effective when it’s a force multiplier,” said Mary Gates, founder and CEO of GMR Security Consulting Group. “AI is not a replacement for human judgment.”

Real Consequences of False Alarms

False flags have long challenged physical security systems. Steve Van Till, founder and president of Brivo, said the impact of a false alarm is exponential in large, occupied buildings, comparing it to yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.

Unlike single-family dwellings, where residents can verify an alert by observing it, apartment communities, hotels, and multifamily properties house hundreds to thousands of people who may respond to alarms simultaneously.

“Everything that happens in multifamily properties is multiplied by 500 people, 1,000 people,” he said. “It depends on the size of the building.”

False alarms cannot be totally eliminated, but one of the greatest dangers is when false alarms occur repeatedly. If false alarms become the norm, there is a heightened risk that a legitimate emergency may not receive adequate attention and response.

“You quickly get into a boy-who-cried-wolf situation,” said Van Till.

Organizations often have compliance obligations, insurance requirements, or internal policies that require staff to review, document, and resolve every alarm and incident. Time spent investigating repeated false alerts increases operational costs. Fortunately, newer AI-powered cloud-native physical security systems are much better at distinguishing real threats and can dramatically reduce expensive, time-consuming false alarm incidents.

Keep Humans in the Loop

In addition to high accuracy and false-alarm reduction, AI-powered cloud-native security systems are easier to operate and maintain compared to traditional systems. However, one of the industry’s biggest misconceptions today, according to Van Till, is that AI always operates autonomously. He wants the facility managers to see AI as a decision-support tool, especially when the stakes are high in multifamily complexes.

Modern systems continue to improve and have become more effective at recognizing open doors, identifying unauthorized people, and detecting potential weapons on the premises. While these advances are good news, managers need to understand that some of the most serious alerts still need human verification before triggering automated responses.

“For technologies such as gun detection, the gold standard is to have a human in the loop,” said Van Till.

Human review adds seconds before emergency personnel are alerted, but those seconds can prevent unnecessary lockdowns, expensive community resource deployments, and occupant panic.

Gates said organizations should view AI as a component of a broader security strategy rather than a replacement for trained personnel.

“AI is most effective when it’s a force multiplier,” she said. “The best use of AI is to have systems with the ability to correlate data from multiple sources. You have video analytics, access control, sensor data, historical data, and patterns that you can pull from and put all this together for the AI to identify anomalies that deserve attention.”

Human judgment remains critical as AI may struggle to differentiate between harmless behavior and violence.

That distinction matters for FMs. Escalating a non-threatening situation can be nearly as disruptive as missing a threatening situation.

Start with the Problem, Not Technology

Effective AI technology implementation starts before the technology is deployed. Instead of asking what AI can do, organizations should determine the problem they want to solve, said Basia Pietrawska, founder of IntelFusion Partners.

“The number one mistake I see with clients, not just with AI technology, but honestly any technology, is not asking yourself, ‘What is the problem I’m trying to solve or operational challenge, or what improvements are we looking for?’” Pietrawska said.

Gates added, “AI should be treated like any other business process, not just a technology deployment. You have to establish risk thresholds; you have to always and continuously tune your algorithms; you should be evaluating how you’re using it and fine-tune those to ensure not only that you’re using it properly but also that you’re using it effectively.”

AI Solves Problems People Can’t

AI-enabled systems have limitations, but for some tasks, these systems make automation practical. It solves problems not practical for people alone, like comparing visitors against images of individuals with restraining orders or identifying noncustodial parents attempting to access a property.

“A concierge can only recognize so many people,” Van Till explained. “That’s one that AI is really good at that would be impossible to scale at a human level, especially if you’re in a busy city.”

Effectiveness improves when technology is unified across multiple building systems. Modern security systems combine surveillance video with access control data, door sensors, credential activity, and other building information, giving the AI more data.

“When you have cameras plus access control on doors, plus sensors, and you have some sort of fusion of all that data, the algorithm performs much better than when it is just a camera by itself,” said Van Till.

More data allows AI to evaluate context to reduce false alarms and false positives while also improving situational awareness for security teams and business owners.

Implementation Determines Success

Proper installation, configuration, and testing are vital to ensure even the most advanced AI security systems perform properly. Van Till and Gates recommend conducting pilot programs before rolling AI across the portfolio.

Pilots help FMs measure false-positive rates and verify camera placement, lighting, lens adjustments, and system sensitivity. Post-installation validation is as important as vendor selection, especially when multiple building systems like video, access control, and door sensors communicate to improve AI performance.

Facilities managers also need to find a balance with AI’s capabilities to avoid overreliance on the system or skepticism that prevents them from realizing meaningful operational benefits. Organizations need to understand where AI adds value and where human oversight is still important.

“You cannot mass deploy AI analytics out on video surveillance and think it’s going to learn and teach itself,” said Gates.

Measuring effectiveness identifies areas for refinement that operators in the security operations center and analysts in the intelligence group can use to effectively decide to open an investigation or response to the alert.

Trust with Automation

AI’s presence in facilities technology reshapes physical security, creating opportunities for automation with improvements in algorithms and computing power. Even so, facilities managers must understand that automation is not a replacement for thoughtful security implementation and management. AI-powered security systems will become more capable, but the human perspective remains key to reducing false flags.

AI’s greatest value is not only faster incident responses. It also helps organizations anticipate risk before it escalates.

“We have to go from being reactive to proactive,” Pietrawska said. “This is not to sound negative, but to be a positive message—a reminder to take a step back, reassess, and continue to optimize and learn from your experience as you go when it comes to security.”

Successful AI integration relies on more than advanced algorithms. Companies that combine thoughtful governance, quality data, and human oversight create an enterprise strategy positioned to reduce false flags while enhancing security initiatives that occupants and facility teams trust.