UK to Deploy AI Age Estimation Tool at Borders to Spot Adult Migrants Claiming Child Status

The UK Home Office has awarded a £322,000 three‑year contract to Akhter Computers Ltd to develop an AI facial‑age estimation tool for use at the border. The system will analyse photographs taken at processing centres and flag adult migrants who claim to be children, with a trial slated for Western Jet Foil in Dover next year and a full rollout expected in mid‑2027. Initial testing of the technology, which has shown promising accuracy, was carried out on a diverse sample of asylum seekers, but Human Rights Watch has warned that the tool is unproven and could undermine child protections. The policy move follows data that in the year ending June 2025, 111,084 people claimed asylum, and in the year ending March 2026, 6,400 age assessments were conducted with 43% of those found to be adults.

Small‑boat crossings remain the most common route for illegal entry, with 8,565 crossings recorded between 1 January and 25 May 2026, down 37% from the previous year, yet 42% of asylum applications in the same period came from small boats carrying an average of 65 people. The Home Office has also detected 4,535 other illegal entries via vehicles, ferries or airports, a 22% drop from the prior year. The new AI tool will act as an additional support for border officers, supplementing existing age‑assessment methods such as document checks and social‑worker evaluations. Critics, including the British Association of Social Workers, argue that reliance on AI could lead to safeguarding mistakes and that social workers are best positioned to assess age disputes.