Artificial Intelligence and Border Technologies
- Europe Must Act
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
AI, surveillance and migration in Europe - An EMA Topic of the Month Report
To read our report in full, download it here:
AI is a constellation of different technologies assembled together to enable machines to sense, integrate information, respond, and learn with human-like quality intelligence. The two important components of AI are machine learning (i.e., developing technology that can improve its efficiency on the basis of its own experience interacting with users) and natural language processing (i.e., optimizing the use of human languages by machines).
Just as AI is being incorporated into different institutions and domains of contemporary life, it is also playing important roles in the management of Europe’s external borders.
On 13th March 2024, a new Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) was adopted by the European Parliament. According to the #ProtectNotSurveil coalition, this law not only fails to protect the basic rights of persons on the move but even facilitates their violation. The law establishes limitations on potentially harmful AI systems, but technologies currently used in the migration context will not be subjected to the obligations of this Regulation. This includes biometric identification systems, fingerprint scanners, or forecasting tools used to predict, interdict and curtail migration. AI, used as part of EU large-scale databases in migration, such as Eurodac, the Schengen Information System, and ETIAS, will not have to be compliant with the Regulation until 2030. Moreover, the new Regulation does not limit the exporting of surveillance technology developed in Europe to third countries, such as China and Israel, that could use it to harm human rights.
In this Topic of the Month, we focus on the application of AI and other frontline technologies in the management of borders, and how they interfere with the freedom to move and the right to relocate.
We begin by examining current applications of AI in border and asylum procedures across Europe, along with a closer look at the EU’s new Entry/Exit System, designed to register non-EU nationals entering for short stays. We then turn to the use of smart surveillance technologies at the Spanish-Moroccan border. Next, we explore how AI is being used both to spread anti-migration narratives—such as in the recent digital campaign by Italy’s far-right Lega party—and to counter disinformation through fact-checking tools. Finally, we reflect on ethical concerns raised by these developments and consider examples of how AI could be used more fairly within asylum systems.
Read the rest of our report by downloading it here: