Home Office urged to break with ‘toxic record of failure’ over AI use in asylum claims

MPs and campaigners have called on the Home Office to be transparent about how it uses artificial intelligence across the UK border and immigration system. Politicians urged the department to end the "near total secrecy" around the technology and break with a "toxic record of failure". The government currently uses AI programmes to process asylum claims, and is developing tools to estimate the ages of small boat migrants using facial features. However, internal Home Office spot-checks revealed that an AI system used to summarise asylum interview transcripts failed basic accuracy tests. Campaigners also accused the government of blocking requests for information and withholding details on how the technology operates.