EU Airports Now Running Lie Detector Tests on Travelers
Three European countries will soon be running lie detector tests on individuals arriving at their airports. In an effort to automate border control processes, Hungary, Greece, and Latvia will now be using "artificial intelligence" to facilitate project iBorderCtrl.
The project costs roughly $5.1 million and will take place in two phases. In the first, passengers will go through a pre-screening in which they will upload their passports, visa, etc., and a computer-animated guard will ask them questions. Questions will include facts about passengers like their name, age, date of birth, and purpose of travel.
As they answer the questions, a webcam will record travelers' faces/expressions, and flag those that may indicate lying.
For the second part, travelers who are 'flagged' will have their documents reviewed a second time and undergo additional questioning.
The virtual border guard model has only been tested on a few dozen people with a success rate of 76 percent. With further testing and tweaking, staff are expecting it to reach 85 percent.
Additional testing is still needed as the program's algorithms can yield biased results for passengers who are of certain ethnicities or genders.
It should be noted that the lie detector tests are only ran on people who give their consent beforehand.
**None of the photos above are my original content.