Google Canada starts using account activity to estimate your age

Google is rolling out its age assurance technology that uses AI in Canada.

Essentially, the technology uses machine learning to interpret “a variety of signals already associated with the users account, such as the types of information a user has searched for or the categories of videos they’ve watched on YouTube,” in order to determine a user’s age.

The company says if the software does identify someone as underage, their Google account will be changed to include additional protections, which include safeguards on content suggestions.

If the software does mistakenly identify you as being under 18 (which is possible), Google does say that the user will be able to prove their age with methods like a government ID or a selfie.

Google has also said that it will not collect any new information for the system, other than the government ID if needed.

The company has already begun rolling out the new technology in Canada, and users will receive notifications in their email and inside Google products if they are classified as under 18.

This new system comes as more nations are moving to implement age restrictions for social media.

And Google isn’t alone in this. Meta has already started to use AI in Canada in order to identify underage users and place them in teen accounts. Meta’s AI uses contextual clues like birthday celebrations to identify accounts that may be underage, with the system being expanded to start scanning photos for ” visual clues” regarding a person’s age. However, previous reports said Meta used details like height and even bone structure for AI verification.

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Source: Google