Pass through airport with passport in pocket
AI-BASED APPLICATION WILL LET PERSON THROUGH GATES IN FUTURE
Passengers are already able to speed through passport control at UAE airports by scanning their travel documents at smart gates. In near future, you simply walk through the airport by keeping your passport or Emirates ID in your pocket, a senior official said on Sunday.
“The idea is you just keep your passport in your pocket when you arrive at the airport after walking out of the flight thanks to advanced facial recognition technology, a biometric Artificial Intelligence [AI]-based application,” said Esmail Abdullah, CEO of Strata, a composite aero-structures manufacturing facility wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company.
There will be a number of cameras taking your picture and working behind the scenes to ensure that you are the same person [whose data was already sent by airline to the airport and matched],” said Abdullah, who is also Vice-President in Mubadala’s Aerospace, Renewables and ICT, one of four global business platforms within Mubadala Investment Company.
A number of airports across the world are working on this technology, he told Gulf News in an interview on the sidelines of a ■ conference in the capital yesterday. Managing long queues at the airport is the biggest challenge and facial recognition technology will help solve this issue.
Passengers can quickly pass through electronic check-in kiosks by answering a few questions, said Abdullah who was a speaker at a conference titled ‘Artificial Intelligence towards a better life’ organised by the French Business Group at Paris Sorbonne University as part of French-Emirati cultural dialogue.
“I believe that some of the airports in the UAE are also looking into this new technology,” the official said.
Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence (AI), told the conference that although some people relate AI to job losses and related problems it would be a different story in art and culture. AI will help unleash power of expression in art and ■ culture, he said.
There was opposition to the printing press and internet when they were invented, raising concerns about violation of intellectual property rights (IPRs). However, these inventions further strengthened cultural exchanges across the globe, Al Olama said. Likewise the application of AI will also further help cultural exchanges, he said.
Ludovic Pouille, French Ambassador to the UAE, said the French government plans to invest €1.5 billion (Dh6.4 billion) over the next four years to encourage research and attract talents from across the globe as part of the national strategy for AI.
He pointed out that AI could support economic growth. According to a consultancy’s report, in the UAE alone, AI will increase annual economic growth by 1.6 percentage points by 2030, he said.