Home Office Embeds AI in Asylum Process Under National Security Shroud

Artificial intelligence is now embedded across the UK Home Office in a state of near-total secrecy, a new report finds. The technology handles specific tasks including the detection of potential sham marriages, the determination of asylum seeker ages, and the inspection of phones belonging to new arrivals. It also supports border surveillance through live facial recognition, AI-powered drones, and satellites.

The Open Rights Group (ORG) released the findings in a document titled Automated Discrimination: Unpacking the Digital Hostile Environment. The report argues that AI is not neutral or accurate and can replicate existing social biases. It notes that the use of the technology is driven by anti-immigration policies and rhetoric. ORG states that officials are trialling these systems with limited public visibility.

Data for the study came from limited Home Office publications, freedom of information requests, and questions from members of Parliament. The work has cross-party support from Labour’s Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Scottish National Party’s Pete Wishart, and the Green Party’s Siân Berry. The report criticizes successive governments for treating complex human cases as technical problems that can be fixed by code.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy said the department has been reluctant to publish documents explaining how AI is used in asylum processing. He noted that the Home Office has not explained how it will ensure accountability when tools fail. He added that the department has not justified why the most vulnerable people should bear the greatest risks.

Sara Alsherif, a programme manager at Open Rights Group, stated that migration is a human experience rather than a technical issue. She called for transparency, accountability, and strict regulation to restrict AI usage. The group is urging the government to ban undemocratic uses, such as ChatGPT tools in asylum applications, and to create a public register of government AI tools.

A Home Office spokesperson said AI is one of several tools used to protect borders and does not replace human decision-makers. The spokesperson stated that asylum decisions are made by trained caseworkers. AI tools are used only to assist in reviewing interview records and policy information. The department monitors tool performance and has committed to publishing updated evaluations on their rollout.