An artificial intelligence pilot launched by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is using generative AI to train officers to facilitate screenings with individuals seeking refugee status, Nexgov said Thursday.
Interviews typically run for about three hours, with new officer training requiring tenured workers to play the part of refugees in simulated interviews.
Michael Boyce, director of the DHS AI Corps, said these mock interviews will replicate real-life conversations they are likely to have with refugee seekers.
“Generative AI will pretend to be a refugee applicant and give them answers, new answers, to practice the three hour long interview with an automated system,” Boyce stated.
The DHS supports USCIS’ use of generative AI, stating the agency will, “Generate dynamic, personalized training materials that adapt to officers’ specific needs and ensure the best possible knowledge and training on a wide range of current policies and laws relevant to their jobs.”
The agency also said the hallucinations and inaccuracies that genAI tech can produce could be of benefit in these training sessions, as working with an interpreter means “there’s a lot of confusion and a lot of sort of dropped things, or things that don’t quite line up or make perfect sense,” according to Boyce.
The pilot was first launched in March and is one of three new cases the agency has produced to examine the advantages of AI.