YouTube begins rollout on new AI age verification tool

By Angeline Jane Bernabe

YouTube has begun testing a new feature that it says will predict a user's age.

The new feature, which uses artificial intelligence, will automatically determine if someone is under 18, according to a post on YouTube's official blog, dated July 29. It will be first implemented in the U.S. before it's rolled out widely, the social media and video sharing platform said.

YouTube said the feature is intended to provide better protections for younger users.

"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. We'll closely monitor this before we roll it out more widely," the company wrote in its blog post, which was attributed to James Beser, director of product management for YouTube Youth. "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."

Beser wrote that the company has "used this approach in other markets for some time, where it is working well."

Anna Barclay/Getty Images

In this photo illustration of a boy looking at a smartphone screen.

YouTube first announced the AI feature back in February, stating at the time that it would distinguish "between younger viewers and adults" and "help provide the best and most age appropriate experiences and protections."

In the July blog post, Beser outlined details of the new feature and how it works.

"We will use AI to interpret a variety of signals that help us to determine whether a user is over or under 18," he wrote. "These signals include the types of videos a user is searching for, the categories of videos they have watched, or the longevity of the account."

If the system does identify a teen user, age-appropriate experiences and protections will be automatically be applied, including "disabling personalized advertising, turning on digital wellbeing tools and adding safeguards to recommendations, including limiting repetitive views of some kinds of content."

Beser noted that if the system incorrectly identifies a user as under 18, they will be able to verify their age with a credit card or government ID.

"We will only allow users who have been inferred or verified as over 18 to view age-restricted content that may be inappropriate for younger users," he added.

Previously, in September 2024, YouTube introduced supervised accounts, a feature that allows parents and teens to "link their YouTube accounts" on YouTube's Family Center hub, so parents can "see shared insights into their teens' channel activity," according to a blog post, also authored by Beser.

The feature is aimed at keeping parents informed about their teens' activity on the platform and helps them foster "encouragement and advice on responsible content creation," Beser wrote at the time.

With the addition of the new AI age verification tool, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in a February blog post that the platform is "laser focused on protecting our youngest users."

"We'll continue to responsibly harness the power of AI to enhance the YouTube experience for everyone," he added.