In an open letter to immigration minister Alex Norris, more than 60 human rights organisations have called on the government to abandon plans to use AI to estimate the ages of asylum seekers.

The coalition of 62 groups argues that facial age estimation systems are too unreliable and potentially discriminatory to be used in asylum decisions.

The organisations, which include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Liberty, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Foxglove and Open Rights Group, have urged the Home Office to halt the planned rollout of the technology, which is expected to begin from 2027.

The system is intended to help immigration officials assess whether people claiming to be under 18 are likely to be children or adults.

Under current Home Office guidance, disputed cases are assessed using a "benefit of the doubt" approach.

Ministers have stressed that AI-generated estimates would be used alongside human judgement.

Individuals are only treated as adults without further age assessment if two immigration officers independently conclude that their appearance and behaviour strongly suggest they are significantly older than 18.

Where uncertainty remains, individuals are treated as children and referred to local authorities for further assessment. However, campaigners say the safeguards do not address fundamental concerns about the technology itself.

The letter states: 

"The Home Office claims “extensive testing has already been carried out across diverse groups, including different ethnicities, genders and age ranges, indicating promising performance and accuracy.” But these “promising” results have not been published. Why? 

"The Home Office has also refused or failed to publish any Equality or Data Protection Impact Assessments. We write urgently seeking that information and to request the Home Office halt the scheme in the meantime."