The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die?
Investigation reveals AI border surveillance towers fail to prevent deaths, with no comprehensive effectiveness audit conducted by CBP.
A detailed investigation into the US border's 'virtual wall' reveals that AI-enabled surveillance towers have failed to prevent migrant deaths, with cases of both detection failures and agent non-response. The report notes that CBP has never conducted a comprehensive audit of tower effectiveness, despite plans to spend $1 billion expanding the system.
- Investigation reveals deaths near border surveillance towers despite AI detection.
- CBP has not conducted a comprehensive effectiveness audit.
- Towers often fail to detect, and agents fail to respond to alerts.
- Federal spending on the virtual wall is set to increase significantly.
- Vendors
- Anduril
- Products
- Autonomous Surveillance Towers
- Victims
- Migrants
- Countries
- US
From the original article
14 min read at technologyreview.com
When José Morales Bernal crossed the border into the United States on April 8, 2024, the day before his 32nd birthday, it should have triggered a chain of technological alerts and human responses. As he walked through the desert in southern New Mexico that morning, he was within range of three surveillance towers. Newly installed…
By James O'Donnell, Eileen Guo · technologyreview.com
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