Online age verification has been considered a joke by many over the years, but that may be about to change as Google introduced its latest solution to determining a person's age by leveraging artificial intelligence.
According to the internet company, they will utilize machine learning to help determine a person's age to provide them with the appropriate content and services to access.
Many online age verification services only use a sort of question-and-answer method where users have to input their birth date in order to see content that is restricted to 18 years old and older.
This has proven to be not very effective in preventing minors from accessing content that's not for them.
Google's AI Age Checker Is Coming to Determine Appropriate Content
Google announced in their latest blog post that they are stepping up their efforts in protecting children from the dangers of the internet, and their way of doing so is to use artificial intelligence to do age checks. The company also revealed that this will also encompass teenagers who are not yet at the right age, preventing them from accessing sites that are considered inappropriate for them.
According to the company, this new digital protection will also help assure parents that their kids will not gain access to restricted websites.
The AI-based age checker will work alongside Google's SafeSearch Filter, sensitive ad content restrictions, YouTube and Play Store's age-restricted content, and other safeguards that use AI.
Machine Learning to Verify Access Based on Age
According to Google, users who are under 18, the age of legality in the United States, will have to undergo a process powered by machine learning to determine their age and avoid getting access to inappropriate content or services.
The company also said that this will offer a helpful experience to children in their formative years and will serve as an additional layer of safeguard for their online access.
Online Age Verification's Scrutiny
Online age verifiers have been outdated for quite some time, and minors who have access to the internet can easily bypass several services by only choosing the prompts that will allow them to proceed with their use.
One of the most controversial examples here is PornHub, which disapproves of age verification laws, with the pornographic website deciding to block states who have adopted the legislation instead of adhering to them.
Not everyone approves of online age verification checks, particularly as a group called NetChoice previously sued the state of Mississippi over a law mandating age checks when accessing the web. According to the group, verifying age online is "unconstitutional," particularly as certain content or services would restrict access to said websites whether the user is a minor or of legal age.
That being said, outside the US, there are many efforts towards improving online age verification, which leverages the use of extensive technology such as facial scans and ID proof to prove one's age.
Google's next big move with AI is to leverage it for online age checking that would help determine a person's maturity before giving them access to certain websites, a feat it looks to launch this year.
