Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of The Virtual Border Wall

Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of The Virtual Border Wall
摘要: Artificial intelligence
Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of The Virtual Border Wall
Watch a subscriber-only conversation examining the failures of b
正文
Artificial intelligence
Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of The Virtual Border Wall
Watch a subscriber-only conversation examining the failures of border surveillance technology.
MIT Technology Review
archive page
September 28, 2026
Available only for MIT Technology Review subscribers.
Listen to the session or watch below
The US has spent billions building a “virtual wall” of surveillance towers along its southern border over the past 25 years, promising they will help detect and apprehend border crossers and save lives. But a
groundbreaking investigation by
MIT Technology Review
has documented over a thousand people who moved through areas watched by these towers without being reached or apprehended, and who ultimately died there. Some were even under the watch of newly installed AI-powered towers designed to spot people automatically.
Our findings reveal a humanitarian crisis more visible than previously known, and repeated failures of the virtual wall’s basic security promise. Watch a conversation examining the failures of border surveillance technology and uncovering the stories of the people who die in the borderlands.
Speakers
Mat Honan
, editor in chief,
James O'Donnell
, senior AI reporter, and
Eileen Guo
, senior features and investigations reporter
Recorded on September 28, 2026
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