FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND EMOTIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN IBORDERCTRL: CHALLENGES OF AUTOMATION IN THE MIGRATION FIELD

Abstract

Digital innovations in the field of border control, migration and asylum have increasingly become a hot topic in migration studies due to the exponential growth of tech-based tools used in these fields. This article focuses on a new aspect of this phenomenon, reflected by the growing interest, in and outside the EU, in implementing artificial intelligence (AI) systems, as new tools tested and used to support decision-making processes in migration-related issues. Specifically, the article focuses on the iBorderCtrl project, which has been used to test a particular type of AI dubbed “emotional artificial intelligence”, giving rise to unprecedented problems in the field of protecting the fundamental rights of subjects and, particularly, foreigners. Then, after reviewing the rapid spread of AI in the field of migration and looking at the concept of emotional AI, as a subsystem worthy of specific analysis, it examines the iBorderCtrl project as a case study, with special emphasis on the judgement of the General Court of the European Union of 15 December 2021 (T-158/19), and contextualising it in the light of the proposed European Commission Regulation on AI, assessing the repercussions of emotional AI in the field of fundamental rights.