"That is why we are rolling out AI technology to put a stop to this"
An AI facial recognition system designed to estimate the age of migrants will be deployed at the UK’s borders in 2027, aiming to detect adults posing as children.
The technology, developed under a new contract awarded by Akhter Computers Ltd, will be tested and refined before rollout in mid-2027.
The Home Office said the system will help identify adult migrants “attempting to game the system”, following early trials that showed “promising performance and accuracy”.
However, Human Rights Watch urged ministers to abandon the plan, calling it “unproven technology” that risks undermining protections for vulnerable children.
The move comes amid sustained Channel crossings and rising asylum claims at the UK border.
A total of 111,084 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending June 2025, up 14% on the previous year.
In the year ending March 2026, more than 6,400 migrants claiming to be children were age-assessed at the border, with 43% found to be adults, according to Home Office data.
A report by the UK government’s independent immigration inspector found cases of both adults wrongly classified as children and children wrongly classified as adults.
It warned that without a “foolproof” test, errors in age assessments were “inevitable”, raising concerns where children lose access to legal protections.
The government announced plans to use AI facial recognition for age estimation last year, framing it as a response to these challenges.
The new contract, worth £322,000 over three years, will fund further development and testing of the system.
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”.
Norris said: “That is why we are rolling out AI technology to put a stop to this, ensuring those who game the system are identified, detained and removed without delay, and those who deserve support and protection are given it.”
Initial testing has already taken place on images across different ethnicities and genders within existing operational systems, but results have not yet been used in live decisions.
The technology is expected to be trialled on live asylum cases at Western Jet Foil next year.
Age checks are currently carried out by trained officers using documents alongside X-rays and MRI scans.
The AI tool will act as an additional support mechanism where age is uncertain.
Last year, the government said facial age estimation was the most “cost-effective option” for assessing asylum seekers.
Critics have raised concerns about its use on children and its reliability in real-world border settings.
Anna Bacciarelli said:
“The government needs to 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.
“In addition to subjecting vulnerable children and young people to a dehumanising process that undermines their human rights, we don’t actually know if facial age estimation works.”
She added the technology has been used in retail environments but not in refugee processing, warning there is “no ethical way to move forward with these plans”.
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