Warning from NGOs in the UK that AI-supported migration system will lead to injustice

According to a report in The Guardian, details about the Artificial Intelligence-supported system in the UK that will make decisions on asylum claims, refugee situations, and rights, known as the Immigration Application Decision and Prioritization System (IPIC), are starting to emerge. The AI system will make decisions based on asylum seekers' identity, criminal record, race, religion, and health information on which asylum claims will be accepted and which asylum seekers will be returned to their country. The AI systems to be used to process the backlog of files of tens of thousands of asylum seekers, including 41,000 individuals who have been issued deportation orders, could potentially lead to injustice according to refugee and migrant rights organizations. Privacy International, a civil society organization investigating privacy breaches, warned that files processed by IPIC could be approved without being examined by Home Office officials. The organization pointed out the risk that IPIC could provide an easy way for officials, reducing the procedures involved in deporting a refugee to merely approving the system's decision. Privacy International lawyer Jonah Mendelsohn stated, "A person in the immigration system has no idea how an algorithm is acting on their files and whether there is a risk of making a wrong decision. Without updates on the transparency and accountability of the algorithm, the immigration system will continue to encode injustice." Fizza Qureshi, Director of the Migrants' Rights Network, highlighted the potential bias of IPIC, stating that a significant amount of information would be loaded onto the system, requiring increased data sharing with other government agencies, leading to increased surveillance of migrants and privacy breaches. Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, pointed out that AI systems could provide the speed necessary to prevent asylum seekers from waiting in uncertainty for long periods, emphasizing the importance of transparency.