A senior tribunal judge has raised alarms regarding the UK Home Office's potential reliance on AI-generated "hallucinations" during an asylum hearing. The case involves a Moroccan woman and her child seeking protection from extreme violence and forced marriage.
The non-existent Morocco CPIN and the AI error
According to the report, a senior tribunal judge described the use of bogus information as an "extremely serious failing" within the UK asylum process. The controversy centers on a claim by the Home Office that a specific Country Policy Information Note (CPIN) existed to argue that Morocco was a safe country for the woman's return. However, upon appeal to the Upper Tribunal, the judge revealed that no such CPIN actually exists.
This discrepancy suggests that the Home Office may have relied on fabricated data to justify its initial decision. The judge noted that the rejection of the woman's claim was built upon a foundation of non-existent evidence,which undermines the legal standard required for such high-stakes immigration decisions.
A Moroccan woman's fight against forced marriage and violence
The human stakes of this procedural error are immense, as the asylum seeker and her child fled Morocco to escape severe trauma. The woman claimed she was a victim of forced underage marriage and had endured extreme violence, including rape. Furthermore, she reported facing death threats from her husband, who is described as a powerful criminal with a history of prior convictions.
The report also notes that the legal landscape in Morocco presents significant risks for such individuals. specifically, the country faces ongoing social and legal challenges, including the lack of explicit laws against marital rape and the persistence of child marriages , which directly impact the safety of women seeking refuge.
The 2017 gap in Morocco's official country policy
The Home Office's reliance on a non-existent document is complicated by a significant gap in official documentation. No publicly available CPIN regarding Morocco has been published since 2017.. This long period without updated public policy notes creates a vacuum that can lead to reliance on less transparent materials.
In this instance, the only document provided to journalists was an unpublished internal guideline known as a Country Information Note (CIN). As the report states, this internal CIN does not confirm that Morocco is safe for forcible returns, contradicting the Home Office's original stance in the asylum hearing.
Who is responsible for the "hallucinated" rejection letter?
One of the most pressing unanswered questions is how an AI-generated letter entered the official Home Office record. the judge observed that the letter used to reject the woman's asylum claim exhibited signs consistent with AI generation, suggesting the text may have been an "AI hallucination" rather than a human-vetted legal document.
It remains unclear whether this was a deliberate attempt to use automated tools to speed up casework or a systemic failure where a caseworker inadvertently used unverified, AI-generated content . The Home Office has responded by stating that its asylum system is under constant review and that all claims are assessed on an individual basis, but they have yet to explain how a non-existent document was cited as fact.
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