AI, Visas and Border Control: Can Artificial Intelligence Decide Who Gets Through

How much should we trust AI with decisions that can change the course of someone's life? This week on Somewhere on Earth, we're looking at two very different ways artificial intelligence is moving into systems that make decisions about people.

First, borders.

Millions of people apply for visas every year to work, study, travel, or join family.

Increasingly, AI and automated systems can help check documents, spot patterns, and flag applications before a human consular officer makes a decision.

But where should we draw the line between using AI to help an officer and allowing the technology to influence who gets through the door? We'll hear from the authors of a new book, AI Use Cases for Consular Affairs, about what happens when algorithms become part of the visa process.

And then we turn to social care.

A new project called Narrative Voice is exploring whether AI can help capture the stories of care experience young adults and turn those experiences into evidence for policymakers, ultimately bringing change and improvements to current systems faster.

Could AI help researchers hear more voices and spot patterns humans might otherwise miss? Or could it introduce new biases and lose the human context behind the stories? This is Somewhere on Earth, where tech meets humanity.

[upbeat music] For US passport applicants, the days of tracking down a photo booth and waiting in line at the post office could soon be over.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that from next year, Americans applying for their first passport will be able to do so entirely online.

He was speaking at the launch of America.gov, a new AI-powered website designed to answer questions about the US government.

It's another example of technology moving into services that millions of people depend on.

But when it comes to crossing borders, the stakes can be much higher.

Every year, people apply for visas to work, study, join family, or simply travel.

And while the final decision is made by a consular officer, that decision is based on documents, interviews, information, and evidence that can increasingly be processed or flagged by automated systems.

So what happens when AI starts shaping what a human officer sees before deciding whether someone can enter a country? Could it make visa processing faster, help detect fraud, and free officials to concentrate on difficult cases? And perhaps more importantly, how do we make sure the machine never becomes the decision maker? I spoke to former US diplomats Don Kilburg and Virginia Blaser, authors of a new book entitled AI Use Cases for Consular Affairs: Smarter Passports, Visas, and Border Security.

How much should we trust AI with decisions that can change the course of someone's life? This week on Somewhere on Earth, we're looking at two very different ways artificial intelligence is moving into systems that make decisions about people.

First, borders.

Millions of people apply for visas every year to work, study, travel, or join family.

Increasingly, AI and automated systems can help check documents, spot patterns, and flag applications before a human consular officer makes a decision.

But where should we draw the line between using AI to help an officer and allowing the technology to influence who gets through the door? We'll hear from the authors of a new book, AI Use Cases for Consular Affairs, about what happens when algorithms become part of the visa process.

And then we turn to social care.

A new project called Narrative Voice is exploring whether AI can help capture the stories of care experience young adults and turn those experiences into evidence for policymakers, ultimately bringing change and improvements to current systems faster.

Could AI help researchers hear more voices and spot patterns humans might otherwise miss? Or could it introduce new biases and lose the human context behind the stories? This is Somewhere on Earth, where tech meets humanity.

[upbeat music] For US passport applicants, the days of tracking down a photo booth and waiting in line at the post office could soon be over.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that from next year, Americans applying for their first passport will be able to do so entirely online.

He was speaking at the launch of America.gov, a new AI-powered website designed to answer questions about the US government.

It's another example of technology moving into services that millions of people depend on.

But when it comes to crossing borders, the stakes can be much higher.

Every year, people apply for visas to work, study, join family, or simply travel.

And while the final decision is made by a consular officer, that decision is based on documents, interviews, information, and evidence that can increasingly be processed or flagged by automated systems.

So what happens when AI starts shaping what a human officer sees before deciding whether someone can enter a country? Could it make visa processing faster, help detect fraud, and free officials to concentrate on difficult cases? And perhaps more importantly, how do we make sure the machine never becomes the decision maker? I spoke to former US diplomats Don Kilburg and Virginia Blaser, authors of a new book entitled AI Use Cases for Consular Affairs: Smarter Passports, Visas, and Border Security.