One signal

AI is involved in several Home Office immigration and border tasks, according to research by Open Rights Group reported by The Guardian. The examples include assessing asylum seekers’ ages, detecting potential sham marriages and checking the contents of new arrivals’ phones.

The Guardian describes the technology’s use as having been embedded across the department in near-total secrecy. That is the report’s characterisation; the supplied account does not detail the systems, how decisions are made or what safeguards apply. AI in these settings can affect people facing consequential decisions, so transparency is not a decorative extra.

Discuss: Should the Home Office disclose how these systems are used and what checks people can challenge?

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