The use of AI facial recognition technology to determine the ages of child asylum seekers in the UK threatens to result in more of them being deemed to be adults, campaigners have warned.
The Home Office this month began inviting companies to bid to provide the technology with a view to rolling it out over the course of 2026, as Britain continues to deal with migrants arriving by small boats.
The Border Security and Asylum Minister Angela Eagle has said using AI is the “most cost-effective option” for fixing flaws in the system that assesses the ages of unaccompanied asylum seekers.
This has led to hundreds of them being wrongly deemed to be over 18 and placed in accommodation with adults where they are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. But refugee and human rights groups are warning that AI technology could lead to even less accurate evaluations than ones carried out visually.
Kamena Dorling, director of policy at the Helen Bamber Foundation, told The National the government’s proposals to use AI are “concerning, unless significant safeguards are put in place”.
“Existing evidence has found that AI can be even less accurate and more biased than human decision-making when judging a person’s age, with similar patterns of errors,” she said.
Anna Bacciarelli, senior AI researcher at Human Rights Watch, said so far technology has only been trialled in a handful of supermarkets and websites to assess if customers buying age-restricted goods are under 25, not whether a person is over 18.
“Experimenting with unproven technology to determine whether a child should be granted protections they desperately need and are legally entitled to is cruel and unconscionable,” she told The National.
All asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on their own and give their age as being under 18 are subject to an initial assessment by immigration officers when they are taken ashore at Dover.
They are then also assessed by social workers from local councils, who have responsibility for housing unaccompanied asylum seeker children and placing them in education. They are meant to go through a formal process known as a Merton Assessment, although in many cases that doesn’t happen.
A report by the UK’s chief inspector of borders and immigration found the age assessment process was “perfunctory” and that this has led to children being put into adult accommodation. The Helen Bamber Foundation revealed in 2024 that at least 681 children had been wrongly assessed to be adults.
Legal challenges in the courts by asylum seekers wrongly deemed adults have exposed the problems of visual assessments. In one case, a Syrian male was deemed by officials to be 28, turned out to be 17.
In another case, a shaving manual produced by Gillette was used to determine that a child was an adult. These children were forced to share rooms with strangers in adult asylum accommodation, and many are now also ending up in adult prisons after being prosecuted for arriving illegally.
Algorithms cannot grasp how malnutrition, dehydration, sleep deprivation, and exposure to salt water during a dangerous sea crossing might profoundly alter a child’s face
Anna Bacciarelli
The Helen Bamber Foundation cites academic studies which cast doubt on the ability of AI to accurately assess age. In one of them, researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel found in a 2022 study that when it comes to assessing age, “as it turns out AI platforms make many of the same errors as humans, although to a larger extent”.
Ms Bacciarelli said the turn to AI to assess the ages of asylum seeker children comes after governments in Europe and tried various other methods, such as measuring bone density, which have not lived up to expectations. “What we’re really worried about with the introduction of AI is that it’s a quick-fix solution to a complex problem,” she said.
She believes the technology that could be used was not designed for children who are seeking asylum.
She explained that algorithms used age assessment to identify patterns in the distance between nostrils and the texture of skin. But these cannot account for children who have “aged prematurely from trauma and violence”.
“It doesn’t take into account the particular facial features of someone arriving in this country by boat. They may have had their face weathered by exposure to salt water, may have experienced a lot of trauma, not slept and suffered malnutrition. Algorithms cannot grasp how malnutrition, dehydration, sleep deprivation and exposure to salt water during a dangerous sea crossing might profoundly alter a child’s face.”
Ms Dorling said that even if AI is introduced, the final decision on whether an asylum seeker is a child or not should always rest with trained social workers and properly trained border staff.
“Replacing poor human decision-making with facial recognition technology that is not sufficiently accurate will not address the current safeguarding crisis.
The Home Office has this week announced the expansion of live facial recognition technology as a “targeted” crackdown on high harm offenders.
A Home Office representative said: “Robust age assessments are a vital tool in maintaining border security.
“We will start to modernise that process in the coming months through the testing of fast and effective AI Age Estimation technology at key Border Force locations, with a view to fully integrate Facial Age Estimation into the current age assessment system over the course of 2026.”
Race card
5.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m
6.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,400m
6.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 1,200m
7.50pm: Longines Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,00 (D) 1,900m
8.25pm: Zabeel Trophy – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (T) 1,600m
9pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 2,410m
9.35pm: Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pocketsCompany%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELeap%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ziad%20Toqan%20and%20Jamil%20Khammu%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 1
Kane (50′)
Newcastle United 0
Killing of Qassem SuleimaniAutumn international scores
Saturday, November 24
Italy 3-66 New Zealand
Scotland 14-9 Argentina
England 37-18 Australia
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)
Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
The specs: 2018 Audi Q5/SQ5
Price, base: Dh183,900 / Dh249,000
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder / 3.0L, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic / Eight-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,000rpm / 354hp @ 5,400rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,600rpm / 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy: combined 7.2L / 100km / 8.3L / 100km
Key facilities
Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
if you go
Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
WORLD’S%2010%20HIGHEST%20MOUNTAINS
%3Cp%3E1.%09Everest%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%09K2%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%09Kangchenjunga%0D%3Cbr%3E4.%09Lhotse%0D%3Cbr%3E5.%09Makalu%0D%3Cbr%3E6.%09Cho%20Oyu%0D%3Cbr%3E7.%09Dhaulagiri%0D%3Cbr%3E8.%09Manaslu%0D%3Cbr%3E9.%09Nanga%20Parbat%0D%3Cbr%3E10.%09Annapurna%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Elvis
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Baz%20Luhrmann%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Austin%20Butler%2C%20Tom%20Hanks%2C%20Olivia%20DeJonge%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
‘Gold’
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
Grade 9 = above an A*
Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
Grade 7 = grade A
Grade 6 = just above a grade B
Grade 5 = between grades B and C
Grade 4 = grade C
Grade 3 = between grades D and E
Grade 2 = between grades E and F
Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Killing of Qassem SuleimaniKilling of Qassem SuleimaniWWE TLC results
Asuka won the SmackDown Women’s title in a TLC triple threat with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair
Dean Ambrose won the Intercontinental title against Seth Rollins
Daniel Bryan retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles
Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s Championship against Nia Jax
Rey Mysterio beat Randy Orton in a chairs match
Finn Balor defeated Drew McIntyre
Natalya beat Ruby Riott in a tables match
Braun Strowman beat Baron Corbin in a TLC match
Sheamus and Cesaro retained the SmackDown Tag Titles against The Usos and New Day
R-Truth and Carmella won the Mixed Match Challenge by beating Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets