Details
- The UK government has awarded a £322,000 contract to develop and test AI-powered age-estimation software for use at the border.
- The tool will analyse photographs of asylum seekers and estimate their age, with rollout planned for 2027 after further testing.
- The Home Office says the technology is intended to help identify adults falsely claiming to be children and protect support meant for vulnerable minors.
- Unaccompanied child migrants receive local council support, care-system housing and legal protections, making age decisions central to accommodation, detention and asylum outcomes.
- Home Office data shows 6,420 migrants claiming to be children underwent age assessments in the year ending March 2026, with 43% later found to be adults.
- The contract was awarded to Akhter Computers Ltd and will run for three years while the technology is developed and tested.
- Border Security and Asylum Minister Alex Norris said false age claims divert support from children at risk and that the tool would help identify adults trying to exploit the asylum system.
- Human Rights Watch and refugee charities criticised the plan, warning that AI may not account for trauma, malnutrition, abuse, exhaustion or dangerous journeys that can affect a young person’s appearance.
- Campaigners also pointed to past cases where migrant children were wrongly classified as adults, warning that inaccurate decisions could place vulnerable minors in adult accommodation or detention.
What Else
The technology is likely to face close scrutiny before rollout, especially over accuracy, bias, appeals and whether it will be used only as one part of a wider age-assessment process. The wider test for the Home Office is whether it can address false age claims without weakening safeguards for children who arrive without documents after conflict, abuse or dangerous journeys.
