UK Will Scan Asylum-Seekers’ Faces for Age Checks—Despite Knowing the Tech Is Flawed
The UK government plans to introduce facial age estimation AI for asylum seekers from 2027, despite internal tests revealing significant bias and inaccuracy, particularly against Sub-Saharan Africans.
Starting next year, the British government intends to implement facial age estimation technology at the border to help determine the age of asylum seekers, many of whom lack identity documents. If children are incorrectly classified as adults, they lose legal protections and may be placed in adult detention centers.
A leaked Home Office report, obtained by WIRED and Lighthouse Reports in collaboration with The Independent, details tests of seven facial age estimation algorithms. The best-performing algorithm showed substantial errors when assessing Sub-Saharan Africans, who constitute the largest group of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. For females from this region, the average error was 4.6 years, meaning a 13.5-year-old girl could be assessed as 18.
The Home Office says the technology will be an additional tool and not replace human judgment. However, it disbanded a scientific committee advising on age estimation methods during the rollout. Former committee member Tim Cole, a professor at University College London, called the face scans “hideously inaccurate.”
Years of testing by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that accuracy varies by race and photo quality. The internal report also noted that poor-quality images and stress from travel—common among asylum seekers—likely worsen performance.
In May, the UK spent over $400,000 on face-scanning technology from German company Cognitec. Public NIST data show that Cognitec’s system misclassified twice as many 16-year-olds as 18 or older when using lower-quality border photos compared to high-quality visa photos. Additionally, 16-year-olds from West Africa were more likely to be classified as adults than those from Eastern Europe.
Foxglove, a rights group, along with 61 other organizations, has urged the Home Office to abandon the plan, citing baked-in inaccuracy and racist bias. The Home Office maintains that in cases of uncertainty, individuals will be treated as children until further assessment.
