Why Are Migrants Becoming AI Test Subjects? With Petra Molnar
Jun 20, 2024
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Petra Molnar discusses how borders have become a testing ground for AI technologies impacting migrants. The podcast explores the use of advanced surveillance measures, the rise of the border industry complex, economic incentives for EU border enforcement, challenges with surveillance tech, and the need for long-term solutions for migrants.
Governments employ AI to manage refugee crisis at borders, raising ethical concerns.
Border technologies may extend to domestic surveillance, necessitating regulation and ethical considerations.
Long-term solutions and addressing root causes of migration advocated over extensive border technological advancements.
Deep dives
Refugee Crisis Escalating Worldwide
The podcast delves into the increasing wave of refugee migration globally, driven by factors like climate change, political instability, and hunger. These forces are expected to lead to a refugee crisis involving over a billion people. Refugees from diverse countries, including those in Africa, Bangladesh, and India, face perilous journeys, often culminating at closed borders, detention centers, or refugee camps.
AI Technologies Deployed at Borders
Governments utilize innovative technologies like AI to manage the refugee crisis at borders. For instance, AI-powered cameras can detect individuals hiding behind natural elements along borders. Ground drones, such as robo-dogs, are tested for border protection purposes, while the use of AI surveillance is prominent, notably at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Challenges Posed by Border Technologies
The adoption of surveillance and AI technologies at borders, termed the 'border industrial complex,' poses ethical and operational challenges. These advanced technologies, aimed at enhancing border security and immigration processes, often lead to unintended consequences, hindering efficient and humane outcomes. The deployment of such technologies has raised concerns about discrimination and efficacy.
Implications of Technological Advancements
The podcast highlights the potential impact of border technologies on broader societal contexts beyond border control. The use of surveillance tools initially designed for border surveillance can extend to domestic surveillance and public spaces. Examples like robo-dogs and drones adopted for border purposes later transitioning to local law enforcement illustrate the diffusion of border technologies into wider societal applications and the importance of regulating their usage.
Proposals for Ethical Border Technology Use
There is a call for setting ethical boundaries in the development and deployment of border technologies to ensure humane treatment and protection of human rights. Suggestions include imposing bans or moratoriums on specific technologies, fostering public dialogue, and involving impacted communities in decision-making processes. Emphasizing long-term solutions and addressing root causes of migration are highlighted as alternatives to extensive border technological advancements.
Climate change, political instability, hunger. These are just some of the forces behind an unprecedented refugee crisis that’s expected to include over a billion people by 2050. In response to this growing crisis, wealthy governments like the US and the EU are employing novel AI and surveillance technologies to slow the influx of migrants at their borders. But will this rollout stop at the border?
In this episode, Tristan and Aza sit down with Petra Molnar to discuss how borders have become a proving ground for the sharpest edges of technology, and especially AI. Petra is an immigration lawyer and co-creator of the Migration and Technology Monitor. Her new book is “The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
