YouTube to Estimate User's Age for Age-Appropriate Content Display: Method Explained
In a significant shift towards automated user identification, YouTube is implementing a new AI-based age estimation system starting August 13 in the United States. The system uses machine learning to infer whether a user is under or over 18 by analysing various behavioural signals, such as the types of videos searched for and watched, account longevity, and activity patterns.
This new system is designed to move beyond reliance on self-reported birthdays and instead infer age from user behaviour. The aim is to enhance safety for minors by enforcing protections more reliably. These protections include preventing teens from viewing not safe for work or age-restricted videos and limiting targeted advertising to comply with child protection regulations.
If the AI estimates a user is under 18, YouTube automatically applies age-specific protections. These include disabling personalized ads, enabling digital wellbeing tools, restricting access to age-restricted content, and modifying content recommendations to safeguard younger viewers. Users who believe the AI has misclassified their age can verify they are 18 or older using a government ID, selfie, or credit card, but protections remain if they choose not to verify.
For content creators, this may result in limited audience reach for teen viewers and potentially reduced ad revenue, especially for age-restricted or monetized content. Creators uploading content targeted at teens may see changes such as private-by-default settings on under-18 accounts and limits on earning via features like gifts during live streams.
YouTube is initially rolling out this AI-powered age estimation in the U.S. on a small scale to monitor its effectiveness before wider deployment. Other platforms such as Google, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are also experimenting with similar age estimation by behaviour.
The system keeps learning and refining its estimate of a user's age over time, looking at viewing history, engagement style, and scroll behaviour to make age estimates. This new system is aimed at addressing the issue of children under 13 using the platform despite policies that prohibit it.
In summary, YouTube's AI-driven age estimation represents a significant step towards automated, behaviour-based age verification that balances user privacy with enhanced safety. This new system introduces new dynamics for content visibility and monetization affecting creators and users alike.
- The new AI-based age estimation system on YouTube can potentially influence content creators, as it may limit the reach of their content to teen viewers, which could subsequently impact their ad revenue, especially for age-restricted or monetized content.
- Social-media platforms, including YouTube, Google, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, are now experimenting with similar age estimation techniques by analyzing user behavior, such as viewing history and engagement style, to address the issue of children under 13 using these platforms despite existing policies that prohibit it.
