[drzaiusapelord]

Except they all get scanned, so the person who runs the scanner would, arguably, be able to detect this. I imagine the dugout laptop is exactly why we have mandatory scanning of laptops.

I also imagine the software can automatically detect things that looks like contraband, explosives, etc. If not then we'd be seeing a lot more terrorist success using these methods.

There must be a lot of pressure on the devs who make the software that run these things. Whatever computer vision processing it does needs to be pretty good or else.

[sqeaky]

Much of the software at that level of detection is still research grade. What is usable for industry is either used in automation (eg Finding curled noodles at a straight noodle factory) or used in tech centric companies. Combine that with the government being a decade behind when its trying and I suspect that humans look at every scan.

[zokier]

I'd be very surprised if your average airport xray would be able to distinguish between lithium battery cell and well disguised explosive pack. Doubly so if the cell/explosive is inside an aluminum body of a laptop.

[drzaiusapelord]

Well if that was true we'd be seeing nothing but explosions on planes. These systems are designed to notice explosives. We know the densities of common explosives vs li-ion batteries and are able to distinguish between them.

[zokier]

Or maybe, just maybe, the explosion threat is massively overblown and airport security is mostly just theater.