Polis kocht!: Smart Borders: Migration in Zeiten Künstlicher Intelligenz

Polis is cooking! invites you to the next exciting cooking event. Be there!

Smart Borders: Migration in times of artificial intelligence

Digital technologies are becoming more and more common and AI systems used at borders - presented as necessary security measures to protect citizens. But while millions of taxpayers' money flow into these systems, large technology companies in particular benefit at the expense of everyone's basic rights.

What is almost completely missing: a democratic debate. The use of AI and automated decision-making processes occurs largely without public control, legal review or democratic legitimacy. This is precisely why a broad, open discussion is not only urgently necessary, but overdue. But not only with regard to democracy and the rule of law, but also with regard to human and fundamental rights, transparency and traceability, power structures and the long-term social consequences.

Questions like...

How is AI used in border and migration controls? How are these technologies regulated? How high are the error rates? How do these affect the human rights of refugees and migrants? How is AI used in asylum procedures and how is it ensured that AI does not violate the right to asylum? Can those affected contest automated decisions? Will such surveillance systems perhaps be able to be used domestically for other purposes at some point?

... must urgently be discussed in public.

We would like to shed light on these questions with you and with the following invited guests:

● Eric Töpfer has been a research assistant at the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) on the subject of internal security. After studying political science at the Free University of Berlin, from 2001 to 2010 he conducted research in various projects on urban security, surveillance technologies and innovation processes at the Center for Technology and Society and the Institute for Sociology at the Technical University of Berlin. He then worked freelance for a British civil rights organization with a focus on European domestic and justice policy.

● Steven Kleemann has been a research associate at the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) in the Human Rights Policy Department for Domestic/Europe and is responsible for the topics of digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI) and human rights.


As always, we are preparing vegan dishes for the event. There will be glass noodle salad with colorful vegetables here.

Polis180 is a predominantly volunteer-run think tank for foreign and European policy. In 2015 it stems from the vision of enabling young and inclusive approaches to policy making. Since then we have had over 600 members. Join us for an engaging exchange of views where we will examine and discuss the lessons learned from civil societies across Europe in the fight against the rise of autocratic structures and human rights violations.

Polis is cooking! is a format for exchange between young people, activists, politicians and scientists in foreign and European policy. We invite you to cook together and then discuss. The dishes we cook are directly related to the topic we are discussing.