YouTube has announced that it is set to implement new machine learning technology to better distinguish between teen and adult users in the US, aiming to provide more age-appropriate content and enhanced safety protections. According to the company, this rollout, beginning with a small set of US users over the next few weeks, marks a significant step in YouTube’s long-standing commitment to supporting kids, teens and families online.“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,” youTube said, adding, “This technology will allow us to infer a user’s age and then use that signal, regardless of the birthday in the account, to deliver our age-appropriate product experiences and protections.”YouTube first announced its plans for this technology in February, and says that it has already been successfully deployed in other markets.“We’ve used this approach in other markets for some time, where it is working well. We are now bringing it to the US, and as we make progress we’ll roll it out in other markets. We will closely monitor the user experience, and partner with Creators to ensure that the entire ecosystem benefits from this update,” the company added.
How AI-powered age verification works
YouTube’s new system will use AI to analyse various signals to infer a user’s age, regardless of the birthday listed on their account. These signals include:
- Search history: Types of videos a user searches for.
- Watch history: Categories of videos watched.
- Account longevity: How long the account has been active.
Once the system identifies a teen user (under 18), YouTube will automatically apply specific age-appropriate protections. These include disabling personalised advertising, turning on digital well-being tools, and adding safeguards to recommendations, such as limiting repetitive views of certain content.YouTube also says that if the AI system incorrectly identifies a user to be under 18, they will have the option to verify their age using methods like a credit card or a government ID.
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