We tested Europe’s new lie detector for travellers – and immediately triggered a false positive

4.5 million euros have been pumped into the virtual policeman project meant to judge the honesty of travelers. An expert calls the technology “not credible.”

IBorderCtrl’s lie detection system was developed in England by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University. It claims that its virtual cop can detect deception by picking on the micro gestures the person makes while answering questions. The university produced a study on 32 people showed 75% accuracy but their participant group was unbalanced in terms of gender and ethnicity. In the article, the head of the EU’s data protection watchdog expressed concerns about the tool discriminating against people based on ethnic origin.