Sensors distributed across a city or district continuously listen for sounds matching the acoustic signature of gunfire. When a likely gunshot is detected, the system estimates its location by comparing the timing of the sound's arrival at multiple sensors, and sends an alert to police, typically faster and more precisely located than relying on a member of the public calling to report gunfire.

Marketed by SoundThinking under the ShotSpotter name, it is one of the most widely deployed AI-enabled policing technologies in the United States, used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies. It has also been one of the more contested: several cities have run independent audits examining its accuracy and cost-effectiveness, with mixed results, and some cities have ended their contracts after concluding the technology did not deliver the results claimed for it.