Tourists in the European Union will be checked using AI
The European Union plans in the near future to introduce a new system of checks for tourists who enter the territory of any of the EU countries. Checks will become much more high-tech, since tourists will be analyzed with the help of artificial intelligence, the iBorderCtrl system .
First of all, hi-tech verification points will be introduced on the borders of such countries as Hungary, Latvia, Greece. Then, if the six-month pilot project shows itself well, the experience will be scaled, and new type control points will be installed on the borders of other countries.
“We use existing technologies that have proven their reliability, but we also work with novelties. All this in order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of border control, ”said the project coordinator Georg Bultadakis. He also stated that the system will not only collect biometric data.
The virtual controller will ask questions to travelers. A standard set of questions includes such as “What's in your suitcase,” as well as “If you open the suitcase and show me what's inside, will your previous statement be confirmed?”. Questions are necessary for travelers to react to them - facial expressions, unconscious movements. The AI controller is able to evaluate 38 different types of microdests. Moreover, the system is modified depending on the gender of the traveler, his nation and language.
For those who passed the test, a QR code will be generated that will allow to cross the border. If something is wrong, the virtual agent will let the person-controller know about the problem, who can perform a more thorough check of the traveler. However, the program is not able (at least in its current form) to prevent a person from crossing the border.
The problem is that the program is at a very early stage, the stage of the experiment. So far, even the developers do not know exactly how well their system will be able to cope with its task. Currently iBorderCtrl has been tested on 30 people. Volunteers were divided into two independent teams, one of which told the verifier the truth, and the other - lied recklessly.
The accuracy of the analysis of a person by the system was about 76%. Unfortunately, the tests provided only questions to volunteers who were not too nervous trying to invent their own lies. Simply because nothing threatened them. If the system worked with people who were afraid of problems with controllers, the result could be different. A person who lies by necessity, out of fear of being revealed, often manifests simply miracles of ingenuity. So far it is unclear how well the system will work in the case of deliberate inventions, which are formulated by almost professional liars.
Nevertheless, the authors of the project believe that the accuracy of iBorderCtrl may well reach 85%. The system learns itself, which means that the accuracy of its work will increase. By the way, about 700 million people cross the EU border every year, and there are quite a few criminals or violators among them.
The program cost the union budget about $ 5 million. There is no doubt that if the work with iBorderCtrl is continued, then more funds will have to be allocated from the budget. On the other hand, what is a few million US dollars (or euro) compared to border security?
By the way, this spring, a face recognition system was launched in the Moscow metro. Its launch was timed to the start of the World Cup. Militiamen established many additional cameras which served as "eyes" for systems of recognition of persons. It should be understood that the search and identification is carried out only on the list of persons who are wanted. The software processes approximately 20 persons per second, all of them are checked with photos from the federal search base.
The cost of such a program was about 30 million rubles. The systems were deployed at the Kazan station in Moscow and at the Petrovsky stadium in St. Petersburg. At the beginning of this year, a pilot project to test the facial recognition system was launched in Domodedovo. For the correct operation of such systems need specialized cameras, which are installed against the movement of people at an angle of about 15%.