• San José airport starts testing an AI robot called José to assist travelers.
• The pilot test launched on Tuesday amid travel chaos at many US airports.
• Some TSA workers have stopped coming into work due to a government shutdown.

One of Silicon Valley's main airports just made its newest hire, a robot named "José."

San José Mineta International Airport is turning to artificial intelligence to ease the strain of modern air travel, debuting "José," a humanoid robot, as some US airports grapple with staffing shortages and widespread delays.

Developed by Silicon Valley startup IntBot, José is designed to greet passengers, answer questions, and provide real-time updates while autonomously navigating busy terminals.

The robot will be stationed in SJC's Terminal B as part of a four-month pilot, "singlehandedly running his own gate," according to an email previewing the test that referred to José as the airport's "newest hire."

Airport officials said the launch highlights San José's role as a testing ground for emerging technologies to improve customer service.

"By piloting IntBot, we're exploring how artificial intelligence can enhance the passenger journey while reinforcing SJC's role as the gateway to Silicon Valley," said SJC Director of Aviation Mookie Patel.

The timing is notable. Airports across the US have been hit by long security lines and travel chaos, driven in part by many Transportation Security Administration workers not reporting to work during a partial government shutdown. With TSA agents going unpaid at the height of the spring break season, some airports have struggled to maintain normal operations.

José the robot represents a broader push to automate parts of the airport experience, from passenger assistance to information delivery.

SJC officials said the pilot will help evaluate how multimodal AI, combining vision, audio, and language, performs in real-world environments.

The future of air travel may include a robotic helping hand — and it can't come fast enough for weary vacationers stuck in long lines.

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• TSA agents have gone unpaid for the last month, causing delays at some airports.
• That's because of the ongoing DHS shutdown, spurred by disagreements over ICE funding.
• Here's where things stand with the ongoing partial government shutdown.

If you've been to the airport in the US lately, you may have encountered long lines at security.

That's because Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents have been working without pay since mid-February.

Some of those agents, fed up with the situation, have begun calling in sick or even quitting, according to the agency.

So, why aren't agents getting paid?

A long but largely ignored partial government shutdown

You may not have realized it, but the US has been in a partial government shutdown since February 14. It's already the third-longest shutdown in American history.

A "shutdown" occurs when lawmakers in Washington fail to pass a bill to fund a portion of the government. The longest-ever shutdown occurred in the fall and lasted 43 days.

But this one's different because every department has been funded for the rest of the fiscal year, except one: the Department of Homeland Security.

That department oversees several agencies, including not just TSA, but also the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Coast Guard, and — most significantly — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

It all goes back to Minneapolis

Just a couple of months ago, none of this seemed like it would happen. Then, Alex Pretti was shot by border patrol officers in Minneapolis on January 24.

Pretti's death, along with the fatal shooting of Renée Good two weeks earlier, led to outrage among Democrats on Capitol Hill, who demanded reforms to both CBP and ICE before they would agree to fund the agencies any further.

While Republicans have a majority in both chambers, the Senate's 60-vote "filibuster" rule means that Democratic votes are needed to pass major funding legislation, given that there are just 53 GOP senators.

The Pretti shooting happened just before a package of government funding bills, including the bill to fund DHS, was set to come up for a vote.

Lawmakers in both parties ultimately agreed to strip DHS funding from the package and pass the rest, and there was only a brief shutdown at the end of January, largely due to timing.

That kicked off negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over DHS funding, which have largely stalled in recent weeks.

Where things stand right now

Democrats have laid out a series of demands for ICE and CBP, including ending roving patrols and tightening arrest warrant rules, increasing accountability measures for ICE, including independent investigations, and adding body cameras and removing masks from ICE officers.

Republicans have publicly rejected many of those points, and while the two sides have exchanged proposals, negotiations have largely stalled.

In the meantime, Democrats in both the House and the Senate have begun to press for bills that would fund DHS except for ICE and CBP.

In a letter to colleagues sent on Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that Democrats would try to force a vote on a bill to do just that in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have tried to pass similar legislation, but have also been blocked.

Republicans have largely objected to these efforts out of concern that, should those bills pass, Democrats will have little incentive to continue negotiating on ICE and CBP, potentially leaving those agencies without funding in the long term.