Social media: AI tool can tell if a child is too young to use apps like Instagram and TikTok

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can tell if social media users are too young to use apps like Instagram and TikTok has been developed by a UK tech start-up. Yoti's'Age Estimation' system -- which may well soon be rolled out across social media -- can tell how old users between 6–18 are to a 1.5-year margin of error. The software works by comparing the user's facial features as captured via device camera against millions of other images of Yoti digital ID app users of known age. Social media firms such as Facebook have long struggled with how to handle minimum age verification without requests for passport details, which many see as intrusive. An artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can tell if social media users are too young to use apps like Instagram and TikTok has been developed by a UK tech start-up.