The UK will scan asylum-seekers’ faces for age checks—despite knowing the tech is flawed
Summary
The UK government plans to use facial scanning technology next year to estimate the ages of asylum seekers who arrive without age documents. An internal report shows this technology often makes mistakes, especially for people from Sub-Saharan Africa, leading to concerns about fairness and accuracy.Key Facts
- The UK will use AI to estimate asylum seekers’ ages by scanning their faces starting next year.
- Many asylum seekers lack official documents to prove their age.
- If children are wrongly identified as adults, they lose legal protections and may be held in adult detention centers.
- Tests revealed the technology often misclassifies children as adults and has racial biases.
- The system performed worse for Sub-Saharan Africans, who are the largest group arriving in the UK by small boats.
- For young girls from Sub-Saharan Africa, the system’s age prediction could be off by about 4.6 years.
- A scientific committee advising the UK government on age estimation was disbanded during this testing period.
- The UK Home Office says it is working to improve age verification and is testing this facial scanning technology.
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