The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Friday that it is now exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for its operations.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco shared that BI heads attended a biometrics conference in Montreal, Canada, to benchmark technology trends for the Philippines.

The conference dubbed the 18th Symposium on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) and Joint International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) Biometrics Forum, was attended by the BI chief last 12 to 14 September to study and adopt the global trends on immigration and border management.

Tansingco also attended a meeting with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and viewed the facilities at Vancouver International Airport.

At the conference, the BI chief said that he saw how AI can improve immigration processing by adding a layer of security.

He added that AI technology can also be used to detect impostors and falsified documents even before they reach immigration counters.

"Naglalakad palang sila makikita na ng AI kung may suspicious documents or activities sila," Tansingco also said. AI technologies are expected to provide facial recognition and document-matching features.

He clarified that AI will not replace immigration officers but instead unburden them from manual processing to maximize the BI's manpower. These technological advancements, including the expansion of the BI's e-gates, will significantly improve the bureau's operations.

"Currently, we are doing manual processing, and it takes 45 seconds per passenger," said Tansingco. "The e-gates can decrease processing time to as low as eight seconds," he added.

Tansingco also shared that, due to the limited airport space, technologies such as e-gates are necessary to lessen queueing time. In the Philippines, he said, these technologies make things faster especially so that the country has "limited space".

The BI chief said he sees the need to modernize immigration systems to be on par with their international counterparts. Likewise, he is pushing for the approval of the proposed immigration modernization law, which updates the country's 83-year-old Philippine Immigration Act.