For nine months, travellers passing through the Hungarian-Serbian border, the Latvian-Russian border and the Greek-North Macedonian border, were given the option to participate in a video call with a virtual border guard prior to their crossing.
The avatar would ask them a series of questions, from confirming their identity to describing the contents of their luggage, whilst recording and analysing their facial movements to determine the likelihood that they were lying.
The avatar would ask them a series of questions, from confirming their identity to describing the contents of their luggage, whilst recording and analysing their facial movements to determine the likelihood that they were lying.
This software, called iBorderCtrl and funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 fund, is the latest in a stream of technologies being spearheaded by companies and governments around the world counting on the promise of AI – in this case Machine Learning – to solve social and political problems.
The funding and testing of this technology comes amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis at the EU border, with thousands of migrants in transit arriving into Greece, Italy or via the EU’s land border in the Balkans.
This crisis, often framed as an existential threat to the EU, has contributed to the rise of far right parties across Europe, from Germany to the UK, who have capitalised on a rhetoric around the failure of incumbents to deal with illegal migration; making the development of technologies to reduce illegal migration and defend fortress Europe a politically saleable way forward.
The funding and testing of this technology comes amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis at the EU border, with thousands of migrants in transit arriving into Greece, Italy or via the EU’s land border in the Balkans.
This crisis, often framed as an existential threat to the EU, has contributed to the rise of far right parties across Europe, from Germany to the UK, who have capitalised on a rhetoric around the failure of incumbents to deal with illegal migration; making the development of technologies to reduce illegal migration and defend fortress Europe a politically saleable way forward.
How much evidence is there on the performance of these technologies? And what are the implications surrounding the extension of these technologies into the most sensitive areas of our political landscape?
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