(Adnkronos) – The British government intends to introduce from next year an artificial intelligence-based facial recognition system to estimate the age of asylum seekers, with the aim of identifying adult migrants who claim to be minors. This was reported by the BBC, citing the UK Home Office, according to which the technology – developed and tested by the informed company Akhter Computers, commissioned with a 370,000 euro contract – will serve to “more easily identify adult migrants trying to deceive the system”, after preliminary tests deemed “promising” in terms of accuracy.
The system will analyze photographs taken at borders to estimate the age of migrants and will be further developed before a possible operational application planned for 2027, with its debut at the Dover hotspot. The initiative is part of a context of increasing migratory pressure and follows years of arrivals across the Channel on small boats, a phenomenon that, according to the government, has made it necessary to strengthen control tools. The Under-Secretary for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, highlighted how adult migrants “who declare an age that does not correspond to reality have taken advantage of the system and diverted fundamental aid from minors at risk”.
In the single year ending June 2025, approximately 111,084 people had applied for asylum in the United Kingdom, an increase of 14% compared to the previous year. Between April 2025 and March 2026, over 6,400 migrants who declared themselves minors underwent age verification at the border: in 43% of cases they were subsequently deemed adults, according to Home Office data.
However, the project has been criticized by several human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, which defines it as an “unproven” technology, as well as “cruel and inconceivable” towards minors who legitimately seek asylum. British authorities, however, maintain that the system represents an additional tool to support assessments already carried out by operators, in a context where, according to official reports themselves, there is no “infallible” method to definitively determine the age of asylum seekers.
