The British government has awarded a contract to develop AI software that will estimate the age of asylum seekers by scanning their faces at the border.
The technology, designed to detect adult migrants posing as children, will be deployed next year. The Home Office says initial testing showed “promising performance and accuracy.” Human Rights Watch calls the plan “cruel and unconscionable.”
The decision follows years of heightened levels of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. In the year ending March 2026, more than 6,400 people claiming to be children were age-assessed at the border. According to Home Office data, 43% were found to be adults.
How It Works
A software company, Akhter Computers Ltd, has been awarded a £322,000 contract over three years to develop and test the technology. The AI will estimate a person’s age by analysing photographs taken at the border. It will act as an additional tool for border force officials when a person’s age is in doubt.
Currently, age assessments are carried out by officials using documents, appearance, and demeanour. Social workers step in when age is disputed. The new AI will not replace human judgment but is intended to support it.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said adult migrants “making false age claims have exploited the system and diverted vital support away from children at risk.”
“That is why we are rolling out AI technology to put a stop to this,” Norris said.
The Concerns
Human rights groups and social workers are deeply uneasy. The British Association of Social Workers warns that AI shortcuts will lead to “major safeguarding mistakes.”
“Assessing the ages of migrants is a complex process which social workers are best placed to do,” said Professor Sam Baron, interim CEO of BASW. “This important task should not be open to shortcuts through artificial intelligence, especially as the pitfalls of getting it wrong can lead to major safeguarding risks.”
Anna Bacciarelli of Human Rights Watch said the government should “scrap this deeply flawed approach to assessing child refugees.”
“Experimenting with unproven technology to determine whether or not a child should be granted protections they desperately need and are legally entitled to is cruel and unconscionable,” she said.
She noted that facial age estimation has been used in shops and bars, but never in refugee processing centres. “There is no ethical way to move forward with these plans,” she added.
The Stakes
Unaccompanied child migrants receive support from local councils and are housed in the care system. They are entitled to legal protections that simplify the asylum process and make it easier to stay in the UK longer. Being wrongly classified as an adult can strip them of those protections.
A government report last year acknowledged that in the absence of a “foolproof” test, “it is inevitable that some age assessments will be wrong.” Cases have been found where adult migrants were classified as children, and child migrants wrongly classified as adults.
The technology is expected to be trialled for the first time on live cases at the Western Jet Foil processing centre in Dover next year. It will be rolled out more broadly in mid-2027.
The Bottom Line
The UK will begin using AI facial recognition to estimate the age of asylum seekers at the border starting next year. The technology aims to catch adults posing as children. Critics say it is unproven, unethical, and could lead to children being wrongly deported. The Home Office says it will protect vulnerable children by rooting out those who “game the system.”
