ORG‑commissioned legal opinion finds risks in Home Office use of AI in asylum process
The Open Rights Group (ORG) has published a joint legal opinion, written by Cloisters Chambers’ Robin Allen KC and Dee Masters, and Joshua Jackson of Doughty Street Chambers, examining the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools by the UK government, focusing on the Home Office’s asylum process and the deployment of generative AI systems such as the Asylum Case Summarisation (ACS) and Asylum Policy Search (APS) tools. The opinion highlights that governments are increasingly using AI to improve efficiency, speed and cost-effectiveness, particularly in the context of a growing backlog of asylum cases but emphasises that such use raises significant risks where decisions affect migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. It identifies concerns including inaccuracy, lack of transparency and risks to human rights, noting that AI systems may ‘hallucinate’, process vast amounts of personal data and produce discriminatory outputs, all of which require careful regulation and safeguards.