Rights groups press UK to drop AI age checks for asylum seekers

The Register reported that more than 60 organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Liberty, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Foxglove, and the Open Rights Group, sent an open letter asking the UK government to stop deployment of AI-powered facial age estimation for asylum seekers. The groups said the technology varies by ethnicity and skin tone, performs worst near the age boundary where it would be used, and could wrongly classify children as adults. The Home Office says the system would support, not replace, human decision-making, with rollout slated from 2027.

Key details: Published June 19, 2026 at 12:02 UTC, 62 rights groups signed the open letter, The planned rollout is slated for 2027, Campaigners cite an error margin of roughly 2.5 years near the 16-to-18 age boundary.

Why it matters: This is a live example of AI being applied to high-stakes public-sector decisions where error rates and demographic bias directly affect legal protection.