Human rights activists have criticized AI facial recognition, which will be used to identify adult migrants posing as minors.
The Home Office has given Akhter Computers LTD, a software company located in Harlow, a new contract to build the technology this week.
In order to determine an individual’s age by analyzing photos taken of them at the border, the business plans to test and improve AI technologies.
It coincides with the Home Office’s announcement that the technology will make it simpler to identify adult migrants attempting to “game the system.”
Additionally, preliminary testing revealed “promising performance and accuracy,” according to the government department.
However, Human Rights Watch has criticized the technology, which is scheduled to be implemented in the middle of 2027, and they want the program completely discontinued.
They contend that the technology is “unproven” and jeopardizes safeguards for youngsters who are at risk.
Unaccompanied immigrant children are placed in the care system rather than the asylum system, which may be a simpler route to remain in the UK.
The program, which will cost £322,000 over three years, is being implemented at a time when asylum requests and small boat migrant crossings of the English Channel are on the rise.
111,084 people sought refuge in the UK in the year that ended in June 2025, a rise of more than 14% from the previous year.
On May 27, 2027, a group of persons arrived at the Border Security Command facility near Dover, Kent.
It coincides with the Home Office hiring a tech company to create AI facial recognition software that will identify the age of immigrants crossing the English Channel.
In the meantime, the Home Office reports that in the year ending in March 2026, almost 6,400 migrants who claimed to be youngsters had their ages determined at the border, and almost half of them were discovered to be adults.
According to a study from the UK government’s independent immigration inspector last year, there were multiple instances in which immigrant adults and children were categorized in the wrong age range.
In the absence of a “foolproof” testing procedure, it was also determined that it was “inevitable that some age assessments will be wrong.”
It further stated that the existing margin for error in migrant age evaluations was “a cause for concern,” especially in cases where minors were deprived of rights and safeguards “to which they are entitled.”
The Home Office has been using its system to test the technology on a variety of photos of persons of different genders and ethnicities, including those of asylum seekers.
The outcomes of any active cases, however, have not yet been determined using the results.
Next year, Western Jet Foil, a processing facility near Dover, is expected to test the technology in instances involving asylum seekers.
These days, skilled immigration enforcement agents use a variety of methods, including paperwork, MRI scans, and X-rays, to determine an individual’s age.
But since then, the UK government has concluded that the AI recognition was the best “cost-effective option” for determining the age of an asylum seeker.
Human rights activists have opposed it and urged the Home Office “to scrap” the “deeply flawed” plan.
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However, Human Rights Watch has criticized the technology, which is scheduled to be released in the middle of 2027, and they want the plan to be completely abandoned.
“The government needs to scrap this deeply flawed approach to assessing child refugees.” “It is cruel and unconscionable to experiment with unproven technology to determine whether or not a child should be granted protections they desperately need and are legally entitled to,” stated Anna Bacciarelli, a senior AI researcher at Human Rights Watch, in an interview with the BBC.In addition to dehumanizing and violating the human rights of vulnerable children and youth, we are unsure about the accuracy of face age estimate.
She claimed there was “no ethical way” to proceed with such plans, explaining that the technology has so far only been employed in pubs and stores rather than migrant processing facilities.
Adult migrants “making false age claims have exploited the system and diverted vital support away from children at risk,” according to Alex Norris, Minister for Border Security and Asylum.
Because of this, Norris stated, “we are implementing AI technology to stop this, ensuring those who game the system are identified, detained, and removed without delay, and those who deserve support and protection are given it.”
