UK Home Office to trial facial age estimation AI for asylum seekers
The UK Home Office announced a pilot programme to test facial age estimation AI technology for assessing asylum seekers' ages, as a cost-effective alternative to existing methods. The decision drew concern from experts citing documented bias risks in AI tools and systemic failures in the current age verification system.
What happened
The UK Home Office announced a pilot scheme to test facial age estimation AI technology to assess the ages of asylum seekers who claim to be children. Immigration Minister Angela Eagle stated the technology would be 'trained on millions of images where an individual's age is verifiable' to produce age estimates with 'a known degree of accuracy'.
Reported impact
The announcement came as a chief inspector's report warned that the existing age verification system had been failing for at least a decade, with mental health of young asylum seekers suffering because of systemic failures, particularly at Dover.
Index analysis
The Home Office already uses AI in other areas such as detecting sham marriages, but that tool has been criticised for disproportionately flagging certain nationalities. Ministers are exploring other uses of AI despite concerns about tools exacerbating bias in government decision-making.
Governance controls
Eagle said the government would commission a pilot scheme with a view to integrating the technology into official age verification checks over the course of the next year.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.