Use of Al age estimation tech on migrants fuels rights fears

After seeing fighters ravage his home, Jean thought he had found safety when he arrived in Britain but was told he was too tall to be 16 and sent to live with hundreds of adult asylum seekers, without further support.

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Alone and exhausted, Jean, who used a pseudonym and did not want to reveal his home country in central Africa for privacy, said border officials told him he was 26 - a decade older than he actually was when he arrived in 2012.

“I look 10 years older because I am taller, that was the reason they gave,” Jean, who had his age officially corrected years later after an appeal, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“They don’t believe you when you come and tell your story. I was so desperate. I really needed support. Because of one officer who made the decision, that changed my whole life.”

Now, that critical decision — an initial age assessment made by border guards — is set to be outsourced to artificial intelligence and charities warn the tech could entrench biases and repeat mistakes like the one Jean endured.

In July, Britain said it would integrate facial age estimation tech in 2026 to help assess the ages of migrants claiming to be under 18, especially those arriving on small boats from France.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to control migration as populist Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK party surges ahead in opinion polls.

More than 35,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year, a 33 per cent rise on the same period in 2024.

Rights groups argue facial recognition tech is dehumanising and does not provide accurate age estimations, a sensitive process that should be done by trained experts.

They fear the rollout of AI will lead to more children, who lack official documents or who are carrying forged papers, being wrongly placed in adult asylum hotels without safeguards and adequate support.