YouTube AI Wrong Detection Of Age, Adults Branded As Children

Troubled age verification features on YouTube (photo: x @SPB_Maroon_Red ·)

YouTube's age verification (AI) system has reportedly misdetected a number of adult users as minors. This error sparked complaints in various online forums, especially Reddit, where many users expressed frustration because their accounts were mistakenly categorized as children's accounts.

As a result of these errors, the only way for an adult user whose account is tagged as a child's account is to manually re-verify using an identity card (ID), credit card, or selfie photo.

YouTube is currently expanding its AI-based age verification system to more users in several regions. This feature is designed to protect users under 18 by limiting access to videos that have age constraints, activating the Digital Wellbeing feature automatically, and setting content display preferences. However, this system doesn't work perfectly yet.

According to a Android Police report, a number of users claim to be over 18 years of age and even up to 21 years old, but remain characterized as children by the YouTube system. When this happens, the platform displays a warning that reads, We have changed some of your settings. We cannot verify that you are an adult. Users are then given two options: keep using services with restrictions or do re-verification.

Although YouTube's goal is considered good, namely preventing minors from accessing inappropriate content and displaying advertisements that are not personalized, the AI system used creates new confusion.

For now, the YouTube AI age verification system has only been implemented in the United States, Britain, and several European Union countries. Google is also known to use a similar system on the Play Store to download certain applications, but the difference is, on the Play Store there is a verification option through a third-party service option that is not yet available on YouTube.