UK to Use Flawed Facial Age Estimation for Asylum Seekers

The UK government plans to introduce facial age estimation technology to determine the age of asylum seekers arriving at the country's border. This move is believed to be the first time such a system has been used for this purpose. Many asylum seekers lack documents proving their age, and if children are incorrectly classified as adults, they may lose legal protections and be placed in adult-only detention centers.

An investigation by WIRED and Lighthouse Reports, in collaboration with The Independent, obtained an internal UK government report detailing tests of facial age estimation (FAE) technologies. The report shows that these systems regularly mistake children for adults and contain serious bias problems. The investigation raises questions about the effectiveness of the technology and its deployment in high-stakes scenarios.

The leaked Home Office document details the performance of seven FAE algorithms tested last year. The report found that the system performed significantly worse when estimating the ages of Sub-Saharan Africans compared to other groups. For female Sub-Saharan Africans, the system's age estimates were off by an average of 4.6 years.

A 13.5-year-old girl could be assessed as an 18-year-old adult. The Home Office disbanded a scientific committee designed to advise on broader age estimation methods while exploring the introduction of AI. "We were keen to highlight the inadequacies of facial age estimation, but this opportunity was not presented to us, and then the committee was shut down," says Tim Cole, an emeritus professor of medical statistics at University College London's Institute of Child Health and former committee member.

Cole describes the face scans as "hideously inaccurate." A Home Office spokesperson says, "We have rigorous processes in place to verify an individual's age and are working to modernize these through the testing of fast and effective facial age estimation technology." The spokesperson adds that the committee was disbanded due to requiring "different fields of expertise." Why this matters: The UK's decision to deploy facial age estimation technology for asylum seekers has significant implications for the use of AI in high-stakes decision-making. The technology's known inaccuracy and bias raise concerns about its potential impact on vulnerable individuals. As governments worldwide increasingly adopt anti-migrant policies and invest in surveillance technology, the use of flawed AI systems like facial age estimation may become more widespread.

This could lead to further marginalization and harm to already vulnerable populations. Developers, businesses, and consumers must consider the ethics and consequences of deploying AI systems in sensitive contexts. The UK's approach also highlights the need for transparency and accountability in AI development and deployment, particularly when it comes to high-stakes applications like immigration and law enforcement.