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The work addresses what Mayorkas said is “labor-intensive”
instruction that typically involves senior personnel. In this
pilot, he said, DHS is training machines to act like refugees so
officers can practice interviewing them.
"Refugee applicants, given the trauma that they have endured,
are reticent to be forthcoming in describing that trauma," he
said. "So we're teaching the machine to be reticent as well" and
to adopt other "characteristics" of applicants.
The remarks, made on the sidelines of the security-focused RSA
Conference in San Francisco, elaborate on AI initiatives that
DHS announced earlier this year. The department has said it
planned to develop an interactive app to supplement its training
of immigration officers, drawing on so-called generative AI that
creates novel content based on past data.
Specifically, United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services, an agency within DHS, would build an AI program that
tailored training materials to officers' needs and prepare them
to make more accurate decisions, the department said.
AI will not make immigration decisions themselves, DHS told
Reuters. The AI will know country-specific conditions and other
information to help officers, Mayorkas said.
The pilot adds to the many tests in industry and government
seeking to reduce costs and improve performance through AI,
particularly after ChatGPT's viral launch in 2022. Such
experimentation has not been without problems, including issues
with translation, incorrect timeframes and pronouns.
Among more "advanced" deployments of AI, Mayorkas said the
department has worked to spot anomalies when commercial trucks
and passenger vehicles make border crossings. The goal, he said,
is to help the department detect smuggling attempts for bringing
fentanyl and other contraband into the United States.
(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco, Ted Hesson in
Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Editing by Lincoln
Feast.)
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