Artificial Intelligence and Border Management

Artificial intelligence is reshaping societies, economies, and general governance patterns globally. In the context of border management and human mobility in the Arab region, these transformations manifest through multiple applications, including biometric entry systems in Gulf state airports, predictive risk assessment algorithms, and AI-powered registration and verification solutions in transit and host countries. These technologies are becoming increasingly integrated into the operational frameworks for border management and regulating the movement of individuals across the region.

The deployment of AI systems offers tangible benefits, including accelerating procedures, enhancing fraud detection capabilities, supporting early warning systems for humanitarian crises, and improving coordination among relevant stakeholders within complex operational environments. At the same time, however, these systems pose a host of ethical and operational challenges that necessitate systematic study and analysis.

This policy brief addresses the role of AI in reshaping border governance and human mobility management in the Arab region by analyzing the operational drivers of this transformation and its ethical and regulatory implications. It also reviews key emerging technological trends—including agentic AI and the growing global ecosystem of AI safety research—in addition to relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, concluding with a set of findings and recommendations to support responsible and effective AI governance.