The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
Ben Gurion Airport turns to AI, but new technologies raise Big Brother concerns
Forty-two startups competed in the Israel Airports Authority's Runway 26 program, which selected technologies for security, aviation safety and cyber defense. The winning systems could help locate people, analyze operational incidents and recover from attacks, but their deployment also raises questions about privacy and human oversight.
The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) has announced the winners of its Runway 26 program, which invited 42 startups to develop and test products at Ben Gurion Airport. The focus across submissions centered on security, safety, and AI-driven improvements to airport operations, with a view to testing these solutions in a live airport environment.
In the security category, Corsight AI won with a patented scanning and facial-recognition solution intended for use across the airport. The IAA notes the technology can help locate individuals within crowds and has potential applications ranging from passenger assistance to identifying people tied to suspicious activity.
The safety category winner is Airvrix, which is developing a system that combines real-time operational data with established protocols to support aviation incident investigations. By comparing prescribed procedures with actual events, the system aims to highlight discrepancies and support post-incident reviews.
Salvador Technologies won in the cyber category for solutions that help organizations recover from cyberattacks by maintaining air-gapped backups of their systems. The approach is meant to enable restoring operations at critical facilities, such as airports, in the event of a cyber incident.
The IAA said it evaluated proposals on factors including maturity, value, and implementation complexity, and noted that pilots would be reimbursed up to NIS 50,000 to cover infrastructure costs for testing. The agency emphasized that the technologies are still in development and not intended to disrupt day-to-day passenger experiences.
IAA head of Innovation, Rafi Peled, stressed that the pilots would be conducted under careful oversight, with security vetting of participating companies and predefined regulations and procedures before deployment. He suggested that much of the work could occur behind the scenes, with any passenger impact limited to the trial phase as determined by timing and testing needs.