Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions for Airports
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions for Airports
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
Considering the increased technological developments globally, companies continue to explore ways to leverage technology and improve operations while remaining competitive in their respective industries. Airports have embraced technology to enhance performance and meet legal and business requirements. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, based in Dallas, North Texas, is among the organizations that have embraced Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various aspects, which has helped improve its Operational efficiency (Lunacek et al., 2021). This paper explores the AI solutions for airports using the case study of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
Reasons For Choosing the Company
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is worth exploring because it is an international and among the busiest airports in the United States. The company’s management has deployed significant measures to handle the vast number of flights and passengers using the facility. The United States has experienced significant security breaches in airports and other transport terminals, thus prompting the Federal Government to compel these organizations to enhance security measures to tackle such challenges (Pohle, 2023). Consequently, AI has significantly aided the company in addressing diverse needs, such as security.
Another reason for choosing Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is that it is among the leading transport hubs in the United States, conveying significant cargo for import and export operations. Major transport outlets continue to experience security breaches, particularly involving illegal cargo transits, thus compelling the Federal Government to institute policies for minimizing security challenges in the country. Additionally, the airport effectively connects with other transport facilities, such as rail and road in the region, ensuring efficient goods transport and conveyance, which has enhanced business operations in Texas and the entire United States. As a result, individuals conducting illegal activities such as weapons and drug sales have utilized the advantage of such busy transport systems to ferry their illegal goods (Pohle, 2023). Therefore, such issues are the reasons that make Dallas Fort Worth International Airport an ideal company for analysis regarding AI solutions for airports.
Major Issues Caused by The Use of AI In the Business
One of the issues affecting Dallas Fort Worth International Airport due to the application of AI in business operations is the high cost of system implementation. Since artificial intelligence is a growing and new technology, installing it prompted the company to incur huge expenses attributed to systems testing and ensuring the technology operates within its functionality guidelines. An example includes installing servers and data analysis software and managing them while tracking all airport data, which is massive, thus prompting increased costs of maintaining AI operations (Airport Improvement, 2024). Consequently, top management and other stakeholders overseeing the company’s operations have noted that the cost of installing and maintaining AI systems outweighs the projected benefits, thus the need for installation.
Artificial intelligence has also impacted management operations and decision-making on various issues, such as predicting market trends and industry dynamics. AI is a learning algorithm that continues to harvest data, analyze it, and produce viable information applicable to everyday activities. However, the challenge is that the system needs to source adequate data that would help produce conclusive information that the management can utilize in enhancing airport operations. An example includes cases where the AI produces wrong or unreliable predictions regarding market dynamics and changes in the sector, thus contributing to wrong decisions (Jiang et al., 2023). Therefore, businesses such as airports need to spend adequate time collecting and feeding data to the AI algorithm to enrich their learning and analysis processes and produce reliable information.
Another major issue caused by the use of AI in business operations within the airport includes security challenges regarding item scanning and passenger verification. Since 9/11, all regional and international airports in the United States and globally have improved security measures by implementing sophisticated technological innovations to assist in tracking illegal items and unauthorized personnel. However, installing an effective AI security system in an airport requires vast data sets to train the system, considering that artificial intelligence is a continuous learning process. As a result, the system can sometimes produce incorrect results, such as identifying the wrong person from watch lists, which can trigger customer dissatisfaction. An example includes using the facial recognition algorithm to associate individuals with similar facial characteristics to potential criminals in the authorities list (Jiang et al., 2023). Feeding the algorithmic with wrong data is among the challenges that can trigger such problems and impact business reputation in the sector.
The Uniqueness of the Issues
The issue regarding the high cost of implementation is unique because system improvements in airports are a continuous process, while in some cases, airports have run for years without significant system upgrades to their facilities. However, the competitive nature of the airline industry has compelled such companies to explore potential improvement areas. For example, artificial intelligence implementation and operation have caused huge budgets for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport since the company seeks to remain competitive and leverage new technology to benefit from aspects such as intelligent decision-making (Airport Improvement, 2024). Therefore, such a challenge is unique because other airports also implement AI regardless of the installation cost compared to previous technologies that have helped maneuver the industry’s challenges.
Considering that previously, most airports relied on stakeholder and board meetings to help formulate effective strategies and decisions to drive business in the company, AI has brought new challenges regarding decision-making. Also, in the past, airports used to have employees manually analyze data using systems to help formulate better decisions to improve operations. However, the problem of using AI in decision-making is unique because if the algorithm produces wrong data, it can significantly impact airport operations, discarding previous decisions achieved through human consultation. For example, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport embraces a data-driven operational model for managing traffic (Lunacek et al., 2021). This model uses AI technology; thus, if the algorithm produces wrong data, the company would face the risk of experiencing traffic issues.
Additionally, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport faces various security challenges regarding item scanning and passenger verification. For example, the company’s annual airport reports estimate a loss of 18,000 travelers’ items, a significant number compared to other regional international airports (Villafranca, 2023). Similarly, the problem of facial recognition algorithms is unique in that when the systems use the wrong data, it can disrupt passenger operations, causing authorities to uphold the wrong suspects. Previous measures used, such as manual physical identification of criminal suspects in airports, had fewer cases of wrong identification (Jiang et al., 2023). As a result, addressing such a challenge may require system administrators to effectively monitor and update data continuously to ensure the algorithm experiences fewer hitches.
Corruption of AI
Corruption of artificial intelligence refers to designing AI systems to conduct malicious acts or exploit existing vulnerabilities for personal benefits that override the purpose of the system. Manipulating AI algorithms to deliver results other than what the developer designed the system to perform without authorization is also AI corruption (Köbis et al., 2022). Considering the rise of artificial intelligence and its application in business, various organizations have experienced cases where their system administrators have manipulated systems to deliver different results for personal benefits. Consequently, issues such as using AI at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to scan passengers pose a risk of corrupting business applications since individuals may use the customer-collected data to conduct malicious activities such as requesting ransom from affected individuals. Such activities could significantly impact the organization’s reputation, causing business losses and potential legal actions.
References
Airport Improvement. (2024). Dallas Fort Worth int’l bolsters employee security screening program. Airportimprovement.com. https://airportimprovement.com/article/dallas-fort-worth-int-l-bolsters-employee-security-screening-program
Jiang, Y., Tran, T. H., & Williams, L. (2023). Machine learning and mixed reality for smart aviation: Applications and challenges. Journal of Air Transport Management, 111(102437), 102437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2023.102437
Köbis, N. C., Starke, C., & Edward-Gill, J. (2022). The Corruption Risks of Artificial Intelligence. Researchgate.net. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363516676_The_Corruption_Risks_of_Artificial_Intelligence
Lunacek, M., Williams, L., Severino, J., Ficenec, K., Ugirumurera, J., Eash, M., … & Phillips, C. (2021). A data-driven operational model for traffic at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Journal of Air Transport Management, 94, 102061. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969699721000442
Pohle, A. (2023). This Airport Wants to Be Busy and Great. It’s Halfway There. Wsj.com. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/dallas-fort-worth-airport-growth-american-airlines-1d982e06
Villafranca, O. (2023). At Dallas airport, artificial intelligence is helping reunite travelers with their lost items. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-intelligence-lost-items-dallas-fort-worth-airport-dfw/