U.S. border surveillance cameras failed to detect a dying migrant

When Jose Morales Bernal crossed the border into the United States in April 2024, the day before his 32nd birthday, he was within range of three surveillance towers equipped with cameras and AI systems designed to automatically detect and track people.

If the system had worked as intended, Morales would have been arrested. If he needed medical assistance, agents were trained to provide it. Nothing like that happened.

Instead, Morales died just 360 feet from the nearest tower. He was discovered not by Border Patrol, but by local landfill workers. An autopsy concluded that he died from “environmental exposure.”

A first-of-its-kind study by MIT Technology Review reveals that fatal accidents like Morales’s occur with alarming frequency. By mapping nearly 4,000 locations where bodies were found against information from around 600 watchtowers, we found that the humanitarian crisis at the border is unfolding through the eyes of the government’s own cameras.

Read our full investigation into the fatal flaws of virtual walls.

—James O’Donnell and Eileen Guo

Learn more about border surveillance technology

• As part of a 15-month study, we created the first comprehensive map of deaths near U.S.-Mexico border guard towers. Look at that map and read how we made it.
• The U.S. government is spending another $1 billion to triple the size of the virtual wall. But the system has flaws, including broken towers, algorithms that failed to detect people, and personnel who simply did not respond to alerts. Here are four ideas for what Customs and Border Protection should do to correct these failures.
• San Diego Era analysis has found at least 138 incidents since 2022 in which migrants’ bodies were found within the nominal range of nearby watchtowers. Separate MIT Technology Review analysis estimated that more than half of those people were likely within the towers’ fields of view. Gomez Hernández was one of them. Below is her story, written by our partners at the Times of San Diego.

“Die in Front of the Camera” is a new series examining the failures of border surveillance technology and its human costs.

Must-read technology and AI news

We scoured the internet to find the most entertaining, important, scary, and fascinating stories about technology today.

1. AI hallucinations nearly triggered a U.S. military operation
   Plans to intercept Chinese ships emerged after false reports. (CNN)
   + The incident comes as the Department of Defense accelerates its use of AI. (Ars Technica)
   + It is an illusion that humans will be involved in AI wars. (MIT Technology Review)

2. Gemini performed Google’s first autonomous AI hack
   Google said the behavior was not an “inconsistency” because its security measures were triggered. (WSJ $)
   + Here’s why AI agents cheat to achieve their goals. (MIT Technology Review)

3. U.S. proposes an AI safety alert system for China
   The system would issue warnings about AI incidents that pose national security risks. (AP)
   + President Trump and President Xi are scheduled to consider the proposal at a summit this week. (NBC News)
   + Can AI really kill us all? (MIT Technology Review)

4. California governor orders development of an AI “kill switch”
   The move is part of Gavin Newsom’s executive order on AI safety. (NBC News)
   + The order also calls for independent oversight of AI companies. (The New York Times $)

5. Data centers are using “forever chemicals” for cooling
   PFAS cooling can reduce water usage but increases the risk of contamination. (Fortune)
   + U.S. regulators are rapidly introducing PFAS for data center cooling. (The Hill)

6. Iran and China use AI agents to automate influence campaigns
   The agents created fake accounts and posted with little human input. (The New York Times $)
   + AI persuasion has entered elections. (MIT Technology Review)

7. President Trump wants a new AI emperor and an “AI army” modeled on the Space Force
   But he did not say what the new forces would do or where they would be based. (Axios)
   + The tech industry is perplexed by this proposal. (Politico)

8. Cybercrime war erupts after eight groups take over a rival’s dark-web site
   The infamous ShinyHunters announced that they had taken control of the Cl0p site. (Reuters $)

9. Gambling giant DraftKings uses AI to target “profitable losers”
   The model scored users’ reactions to promotions. (The New York Times $)

10. SpaceX’s next Starship flight will attempt its first orbital mission
    It also plans to deploy the operational Starlink V3 satellite. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“There is a 0% chance that it will be the end of the world.”

—NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang dismissed warnings that AI could wipe out humanity by 2030. Read the CBS News interview.

One more thing: AI is pushing the limits of the physical world

Architecture often assumes a dichotomy between built and theoretical projects. What physics allows in real buildings is very different from what architects can imagine and design. But the latest advances in AI have facilitated a theoretical leap forward.

That shift was on display at an exhibition at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, which brought together the work of more than 30 experts exploring the experimental, generative, and collaborative potential of AI to open up new areas of architectural inquiry.

See how architects and designers are using AI to imagine what can be built.

—Alison Arif

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