Instagram has launched in the United Kingdom an AI-powered feature to verify teenagers’ ages via a video selfie. Gizmodo reports.
The company has been testing the tool since June 2022. The technology was developed by the British firm Yoti.
Age verification applies to underage users attempting to change their age in account settings. The system will prompt the profile owner to verify their age using a video selfie. As an alternative, the user can submit a photo of an identity document or ask adults to confirm their age.
According to Yoti, the system identifies 13–17-year-olds as younger than 23 in 99.65% of cases.
The company says that their technology differs from traditional facial recognition. Instead, the system analyzes the user’s facial features.
“This is not ‘facial recognition’ […]. It’s simply a determination of whether there is something on the captured image that resembles a human face,” the company said.
Julie Dawson, Yoti’s Director of Policy and Regulation, said that online age verification is a “complex industry problem.” However, she said the facial-age assessment tool provides a balance between effectiveness and privacy.
“We created it to give everyone a safe way to confirm their age without revealing their name or an identity document. This technology could allow minors to access content appropriate for their age,” said Dawson.
Instagram’s Director of Public Policy, Tara Hopkins, says the new tools are an “important step” in protecting young users on their platform.
“We want everyone to use Instagram in accordance with their age, which means we need to know how old they are — and that is a problem for the entire industry,” she added.
The age-verification feature via video selfie is already available to users in the United States, Brazil and India. In the near future, the company plans to roll out the technology in other regions.
In September, Meta began developing nudity recognition system for photos sent in Instagram direct messages.
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