An eye for an ‘I:’ a critical assessment of artificial intelligence tools in migration and asylum management
Today, we would like to share with you this new publication by Dr Lucia Nalbandian, member of the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Program at Toronto Metropolitan University.
This article - published in the Comparative Migration Studies journal - examines the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in migrants and asylum seekers' management by public authorities. The author explains how AI is seen as a valuable solution to manage more efficiently the data and information related to migration fluxes. Nevertheless, this new technology also deeply influences the migrants' identities and opportunities as newcomers.
The analysis is a case study comparison among new digital systems; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) biometric data collection, paired with Accenture’s Biometric Matching Engine. The New Zealand migration system, which is based on biometric and biographic matching, customer segmentation based on risk, customer screening based on eligibility, alerts, watchlists and risk and finally for case prioritization. Then, the US biometric database face and iris matching algorithms, fingerprint matching technology and the Investigative Case Management system used to trace and deport illegal migrants.
The key point of this paper is how the use of AI can jeopardize human rights. Although the systems make the management more efficient and improve the national security systems, they compromise the respect for human dignity.
You can find this open access article at this link:
https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1186/s40878-022-00305-0?sharing_token…