The Bureau of Immigration (BI) plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) in its operations, Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.

Tansingco said he is considering the use of AI after attending a biometrics conference in Montreal, Canada from Sept. 12 to 14 together with other BI officials.

AI “is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.”

Tansingco said that during the conference he saw "how AI can improve immigration processing by adding a layer of security."

But he clarified that “AI will not replace immigration officers, but instead unburden them from the manual processing to maximize the BI’s manpower.”

At the same time, he said he witnessed how AI can be used “to detect impostors and falsified documents even before they reach immigration counters.”

“Naglalakad palang sila, makikita na ng AI kung may suspicious documents or activities sila (Even while the persons are walking, the AI can detect suspicious documents and activities),” he also said as he pointed out that AI technologies are expected to provide facial recognition and document matching features. 

Tansingco said that “we are doing manual processing, and it takes 45 seconds per passenger and, thus, the e-gates can decrease processing time to as low as eight seconds."

While "immigration areas in other countries are massive, hence they are able to place more personnel or gates, here we have limited space, so we need these technologies to make things faster,” he stressed.