U.S. deploys AI in "virtual border wall"
Baku, December 12, AZERTAC
The U.S. government is building a "virtual wall" at the southern border by erecting hundreds of high-tech surveillance towers — some of which use artificial intelligence — to detect people in an effort to reduce drug smuggling and sky-high unauthorized migration, according to Axios.
A record-high number of people have entered the U.S. through the southern border this year, resulting in multiple crises and exacerbating U.S. Customs and Border protection staffing shortages. But the new surveillance technology is giving rise to concerns over civil liberties, digital watchdogs say.
Although there have been surveillance towers at the border for several years, the new autonomous towers can better detect abnormal activity.
The U.S. has installed about 300 different types of surveillance towers from the California coast to the tip of Texas, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that monitors civil liberties in the digital world.
Using public records, satellite imagery, road trips, and virtual reality, the nonprofit mapped the presence of surveillance towers along the border in remote and highly populated areas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have praised the autonomous technology as a great asset that helps agents do their jobs, and it has bipartisan support.
CBP has said more are coming. The agency has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
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