(Re)considering Generative AI in Border Studies: Emerging Trajectories and Methods

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used for decades in border control. Border scholars have criticized its exclusive use for surveillance, biometric datafication and tracking. The recent public accessibility of advanced generative AI (GenAI), such as chatbots and image generators, has sparked new questions about AI’s role in society and research. By delineating the current state of technology and AI within border studies, briefly surveying existing social research on GenAI, and outlining possible applications of GenAI in border studies, this paper argues that the border-GenAI nexus informs an important inquiry in border studies that calls for more expansive exploration. GenAI tools offer a promising opportunity to advance scholarly debates and initiate a shift in prevailing attitudes within border scholarship toward AI and emerging technology.