The UK will scan asylum-seekers’ faces for age checks—despite knowing the tech is flawed

The UK Home Office is testing facial age estimation technology throughout 2026, with plans to implement it at the border in 2027 to help determine whether undocumented asylum seekers are adults or children. However, testing data shows that the technology's performance varies significantly by ethnicity, with error rates almost always higher for female faces, and particularly high errors for Sub-Saharan African faces . Human Rights Watch has urged the government to scrap the scheme, describing it as unproven technology that will undermine protections for vulnerable children .

Source: Ars Technica | 2026-06-20