By: Nick Gambino
YouTube has announced that they will start using AI to verify whether users are over 18 or not. They will do this by scanning activity to determine what the user is searching for and watching, and then they will gauge that against other factors, like how long they’ve had their account.
“Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin to roll out machine learning to a small set of users in the US to estimate their age, so that teens are treated as teens and adults as adults,” James Beser, the Director of Product Management for YouTube, said in a blog post about the new feature.
If Google’s AI model infers that the user is a minor, they’ll begin treating the account accordingly. This means they’ll turn off targeted ads, limit multiple views of certain types of content and they’ll switch on YouTube’s digital wellbeing tools.
Now of course there’s the possibility that this machine learning bot will get it wrong and start limiting an adult user’s account. In order to remove restrictions, the user will need to provide proof of age like a government ID or a credit card. In other words, it’s on them to prove their age.
This new age verification feature will make it a lot harder for minors to fake their way into an adult account. Up until now YouTube just took their word for it, accepting whatever age the user plugged in. And while they can still technically do that, YouTube will be watching.
Now this is only rolling out to a limited set of users for now as they figure out whether this is the best method for protecting underage youth from the crazy that exists on their platform.
As a father myself, I’ve had a front row seat to some of that crazy and I’m all for YouTube stepping up to do more to shield our kids from inappropriate content.
