TSA Is Using Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Unnecessary Pat-Downs

Airport security is stressful enough, with travelers scrambling to remove their liquids, laptops, and shoes and then hustling through the checkpoint's body scanner. But add in an unnecessary pat-down, and the whole experience can feel downright invasive. Fortunately for fliers, the number of passenger pat-downs is shrinking, according to the TSA, thanks to new artificial intelligence-based technology the organization has been rolling out for the past several months. The improvement comes in the form of an updated algorithm used on TSA's body scanners that's designed to substantially decrease the amount of false alarms that lead to erroneous pat-downs. The new algorithm was designed to ease the body scanner process for transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming travelers, who in the past have often had issues with the machines.