- YouTube introduces AI -Age control in the US to filter inappropriate content
- Machine learning will base decisions on searched videos and categories, including criteria
- This message follows the recent blocking of YouTube in Australia for minors and restrictions on social media in UK
YouTube has announced the introduction of AI-based controls to determine the age of viewers.
This news comes days after a complete ban on YouTube access to Under-16s in Australia, and the introduction of age verification control in the UK under the Online Security Act.
YouTube, who tries on the technology with an example audience in the United States, plans to expand it across the country and tailoring experiences based on the viewer’s age.
This does not just mean blocking unsuitable content. Personal advertisement will also be disabled for children, while older viewers will be required to give government issuing ID to confirm their age if AI gets it wrong.
YouTube’s “built -in protection”
In a blog post, Director of Product Management for YouTube YouTube, James Beser wrote that “Machine Learning Age Estimation” is used to protect teens on YouTube.
To distinguish between the new measures from previous incentives such as YouTube kids and monitored accounts for teens, Beser explained that the platform would work to present age-passing videos.
“Over the next few weeks, we start rolling machine learning into a small set of users in the US to estimate their age, so teens are treated as teenagers and adults as adults,” Beser said.
Machine learning detects searches and video categories, and AI will make decisions based on these and other factors, including the age of the account.
“This technology allows us to derive a user’s age and then use this signal, regardless of the birthday of the account, to deliver our age-passing product experiences and protection,” Beser adds.
These protections include disabling personal advertising when children look at and turn on digital wellness tools. (These currently include fractures, daily timers and even a bedtime reminder.) In addition, recommendations will be protected with blocks on some repetitive content.
These measures appear to be VPN-Proof. There would be no reason for any government to prohibit VPNs if the AI-based measures are universal and cannot be bypassed.
What is the next?
Over the years, criticism of YouTube’s granular content control has resulted in a subscription service (YouTube kids), monitored accounts and Google Family Link Integration.
The time of this message that follows the decision to include YouTube in Australia’s ban under 16-year-olds cannot be a coincidence.
After all, it seems that this is not just an American endeavor. “We now bring it to the United States, and as we make progress, we roll it out in other markets,” Beser writes.
Given the recent events, the United Kingdom seems to be high on the list of markets, followed by key -eu nations that impose on age verification measures.
