18 10.1163/22131035-14020001 | enigbokan of stateless people worldwide is likely much higher than reported figures due to poor data collection practices, with many countries not reporting any information on stateless individuals within their borders, leading to a significant underestimation of the issue93 and absence of concrete and reliable information to capture the extent of the issue.94 In addition, stateless people might find it difficult coming out due to fear of detention, especially in the absence of a statelessness determination procedure (sdp) that can play an important role by assisting in identifying and recognising stateless persons and can ensure their protection and increase awareness of the problem.95 Therefore, the concept statelessness and the extent of the problem is less understood.96 Since ai lacks the capacity for normative judgment, unlike human decision-makers, they are unlikely to be able to make a determination about statelessness status that has no apparent relation to what they have been trained. Gaps in information may prevent the algorithm from accurately assessing an individual’s stateless status. This can lead to erroneous decisions, such as incorrectly determining that a person is not stateless. Until statelessness is accurately and reliably reported, whatever data that is available will be biased, perpetuating existing discriminatory trends and preventing stateless people from being recognised and protected.97 Without balanced training data, for example, an ai algorithm may prioritize certain variables (engineers may prioritize specific features or variables based on how they want the machine to behave) and minimise the significance of issues such as discrimination based on gender in nationality laws.98 93 94 95 96 97 98 unhcr, ‘Who We Protect Stateless People’ <https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who -we-protect/stateless-people> accessed 30 September 2025. Ibid. Laura van Waas, Nationality Matters Statelessness under International Law (Intersentia, 2008) 9; Solomon Momoh, Hanneke van Eijken and Cedric Ryngaert, ‘Statelessness determination procedures: Towards a bespoke procedure for Nigeria’ (2020) 2 Statelessness and Citizenship Review 90. Ibid, 9. Charlotte Armstrong, ‘How can ai Contribute to the Fight to End Statelessness?’ European Network on Statelessness, 21 September 2023 <https://www.statelessness .eu/updates/editorial/how-can-ai-contribute-fight-end-statelessness-0> accessed 30 September 2025. Ibid; Chen, (n 74) at 6. International Human Rights Law Review (2025) 1–31