Charities Warn UK Plan to Use AI in Age Assessments Could Harm Young Refugees

Charities Warn UK Plan to Use AI in Age Assessments Could Harm Young Refugees
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A coalition of more than 100 charities and advocacy groups has raised serious concerns about the UK government’s proposal to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help determine the ages of asylum seekers, warning that the technology could put vulnerable children at risk.

According to The Guardian and multiple rights organisations, the Home Office has awarded a contract to develop an AI‑based facial age‑estimation tool intended to support age assessments for young refugees whose ages are disputed. Under the plan, the system would analyse facial images to generate an age estimate, which could be used alongside other evidence in asylum cases.

In a joint statement, the coalition described the use of AI in this context as “dangerous,” emphasizing that the technology is not sufficiently reliable and risks misclassifying genuine children as adults. Such errors, they said, could lead to children being placed in adult detention facilities or inappropriate accommodation, with serious legal and safeguarding implications.

Charity leaders argue that age assessments should remain rooted in human judgement by trained professionals, with AI playing at most a supplementary advisory role. They also warned that AI models can carry biases, particularly when applied to people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, potentially compounding existing inequalities.

Human rights organisations have called on the UK government to prioritise humane, fair, and evidence‑based approaches that protect the rights and welfare of young asylum seekers, and to ensure that any technology used does not override or undermine children’s protections under UK and international law.