Home Office asylum decision apparently cites non-existent AI-hallucinated document
A UK Upper Tribunal judge found that the Home Office rejected a Moroccan woman's asylum claim based on a non-existent policy document, suggesting the reference may have been generated by an AI system that hallucinated the citation. The judge called this an 'extremely serious failing' and ruled it equivalent to relying on bogus evidence.
What happened
A Moroccan woman and her child, who fled the country after experiencing forced underage marriage, extreme violence and rape, claimed asylum in the UK. The Home Office rejected her claim, citing evidence from a country policy information note (CPIN) on Morocco dated July 2021 that was said to confirm Morocco would be safe for her.
The document could not be found. An Upper Tribunal judge investigated the case on 14 July and stated: 'It appears that no such CPIN has ever existed' and 'No such document has been located in the public domain and moreover the Home Office's country policy and information team has been unable to confirm its existence.' The judge noted that the Home Office letter refusing the asylum claim 'bears hallmarks consistent with the use of artificial intelligence' and suggested the reference to the missing document 'may be a result of an AI hallucination'.
When asked by The Guardian if the document existed, the Home Office initially sent a link to an archive where it could not be found, then produced a different unpublished internal document. No CPIN has been published on Morocco since 2017.
Reported impact
The woman's asylum appeal was rejected in the first-tier tribunal based on evidence that did not exist. The Upper Tribunal judge ruled this constituted 'a procedural irregularity' and said relying on a non-existent document was 'analogous to relying on bogus evidence', describing it as 'an extremely serious failing on the part of the respondent [the Home Office]'.
Index analysis
The case indicates potential deployment of AI systems in asylum decision-making without adequate verification of source materials or outputs. The apparent hallucination—citation of a non-existent authoritative policy document—directly affected the accuracy of a consequential immigration decision.
Governance controls
The judge found no evidence that the Home Office's country policy and information team could confirm the existence of the cited document, suggesting insufficient verification procedures before AI-generated references were used in formal asylum refusal letters.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.