The UK Home Office may have utilized fabricated information, potentially generated by artificial intelligence, in an asylum case, a senior tribunal judge stated. This development raises concerns about the integrity of evidence used in immigration proceedings.
The information in question pertained to a document asserting that Morocco was a safe country for the return of a woman and her children. However, lawyers for the asylum seeker argued that such a document, a country policy information note (CPIN), appears never to have existed. The judge overseeing the Upper Tier tribunal, which is currently deliberating the woman's fate, noted on July 14 that the Home Office's own country policy and information team could not confirm its existence.
The woman and her child fled Morocco after allegedly experiencing forced underage marriage and severe violence, including rape. Her asylum claim was based on fears for her safety due to her husband, described as a powerful and previously convicted criminal. In the initial first-tier immigration tribunal, the Home Office cited the purported CPIN as evidence for her return.
The judge further indicated that a letter from the Home Office refusing the woman's asylum claim bore characteristics consistent with the use of artificial intelligence. He suggested that the references to a 'country information note Morocco July 2021' might be the result of an AI 'hallucination,' calling such an occurrence an 'extremely serious failing' on the part of the Home Office. The judge equated relying on a nonexistent document to depending on 'bogus evidence' and criticized the situation as a 'procedural irregularity.'
When questioned by reporters, the Home Office was unable to locate the alleged CPIN or confirm its existence. The only document provided to journalists was an unpublished internal guidance known as a country information note (CIN). Records indicate that no CPIN for Morocco has been published since 2017.
The CIN, which has not been disclosed during the ongoing legal proceedings, reportedly does not conclude that Morocco is safe for the forced return of women. According to The Guardian, the CIN notes that in 2018, 40,000 child marriages were registered in Morocco, representing one-fifth of the total marriages that year. The document also highlights that Moroccan law does not explicitly criminalize marital rape, and women reporting such offenses risk being criminalized for sex outside marriage if their claims are not believed by authorities.
A spokesperson for the Home Office stated that the department is working to restore order and control to the asylum system by deterring illegal migration and increasing removals of individuals without the right to remain in the UK. The spokesperson added that the asylum system is under constant review, and claims are evaluated on individual merits using the latest evidence to ensure protection is granted only to those genuinely in need.
The asylum case is ongoing.