The U.K. plans to pilot artificial-intelligence tools to estimate the ages of asylum seekers beginning next year, aiming to curb adults posing as minors at the border. The Home Office awarded a three-year, £322,000 contract to Harlow-based Akhter Computers to develop and test facial analysis software, with nationwide rollout targeted for mid-2027. Officials say initial testing across ethnicities and genders shows promising accuracy, and the system will supplement existing assessments by Border Force and social workers at processing sites such as Dover’s Western Jet Foil. The government argues the tool will prevent abuse of protections reserved for children, citing data that 43% of more than 6,400 claimants assessed as children in the year to March 2026 were found to be adults. Rights groups and social-worker bodies warn the technology is unproven and risks wrongful decisions that could deprive children of legal safeguards. The Home Office says test results have not yet informed live cases, and that it currently does not use X-rays or MRI scans for age checks.
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Stop Facial Recognition (Big Brother Watch)
