ICE just abandoned its dream of 'extreme vetting' software that could predict whether a foreign visitor would become a terrorist

Federal immigration officials have abandoned their pursuit of a controversial machine-learning technology that was a pillar of the Trump administration's "extreme vetting" of foreign visitors, dealing a reality check to the goal of using artificial intelligence to predict human behavior. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told tech-industry contractors last summer they wanted a system for their "Extreme Vetting Initiative" that could automatically mine Facebook, Twitter and the broader Internet to determine whether a visitor might commit criminal or terrorist acts or was a "positively contributing member of society." But ICE dropped the machine-learning requirement from its request in recent months, opting instead to hire a contractor that can provide training, management and human personnel who can do the job. Federal documents say the contract is expected to cost more than $100 million and be awarded by the end of the year. After gathering "information from industry professionals and other government agencies on current technological capabilities," ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said, the focus of what the agency now calls its Visa Lifecycle Vetting program "shifted from a technology-based contract to a labor contract."