Second AI tool for asylum caseworkers to be rolled out this month

An AI summary generator tool will be rolled out for use by asylum caseworkers this April, to join a pre-existing AI ‘policy search’ mechanism.

The Asylum Case Summarisation (ACS) tool uses a Large Language Model to create summary documents from asylum interview transcripts. The Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, stated that the technology was designed in line with a ‘human in the loop’ principle, meaning it could not be used in isolation to determine a claim.

He said: “AI technology does not make decisions on Asylum applications; instead, it will help Asylum Decision Makers analyse data and provide insightful information that further informs outcomes.”

“It acts as an aid in the usual decision-making process,” he added.

The first AI tool to be introduced for asylum caseworkers was the Asylum Policy Search (APS) tool, which finds and summarises relevant Country Policy Information Notes in response to inquiries submitted through a chat-based interface. The minister noted that this has now been “fully rolled out”.

The Home Office has not yet confirmed whether it will publish the results of Data Protection Impact Assessments carried out on either AI system.

The department does not have a standing operating procedure for APS, although Norris emphasised that all Home Office employees were obligated to undertake an ‘AI for all’ learning package in 2025, and that caseworkers were provided with thorough training prior to APS’ operationalisation.

He added that following the operationalisation of APS, a dedicated inbox was created for Decision Makers to report any problems they’d encountered with the technology.

Subject Matter Expert testing for APS continues to be carried out in collaboration with the Country Policy & Information Team.