YouTube announced Tuesday that it plans to deploy a new age estimation technology to identify users under the age of 18. This new feature is intended to protect young teens from harmful content.
Powered by artificial intelligence, this tool can assess a person's age based on the type of video they watched, the video category, and the length of time that person has an account., It was stated in a statement on the platform's blog.
If the technology identifies a person as under the age of 18, we will take additional steps to regulate the content by disabling personalized ads and restricting repetitive views of certain types of content. If YouTube incorrectly determines someone's age, the user can upload the format of identification to correct the error.
“Only users who have been suspected or verified as over 18 will allow younger users to view inappropriate age-restricted content,” YouTube said in a blog post.
YouTube's parent company Google did not immediately respond to CBS Moneywatch's request for comment.
According to a recent Pew survey, YouTube is the most popular social media app among teens. 90% of teenagers ages 13 to 17 said they used YouTube last year, while 63% said they used Tiktok.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan first unveiled age detection technology in February. The new tool is based on other safety features, such as monitored accounts, which allow parents to more closely monitor their children's YouTube activities.
YouTube also leveraged AI to identify and remove content it deems harmful, but since President Trump took office for his second term in January, social media platforms have shifted its policy to emphasize “freedom of expression” over safety.
YouTube says it plans to test its age detection tool in the coming weeks among a small number of US users before deploying the technology to a larger audience. The company has stated on its blog that the tool has already been used successfully in other markets, but it does not specify where.
