UK Govt recommends use of AI to judge if user is an adult 

December 5, 2023

Ofcom expects to publish its final guidance in early 2025, after which the government will bring these duties into force…reports Asian Lite News

The government’s internet regulator Ofcom on Tuesday set out new guidance on highly-effective age checks to stop children accessing online porn services.

Under the new Online Safety Act, websites and apps that display or publish pornographic content must ensure that children are not normally able to encounter pornography on their service, Ofcom said in a statement.

Methods could include photo ID matching, facial age estimation and credit card checks and online services must take care to safeguard users’ privacy and adults’ rights to access legal pornography, the regulator added.

Companies who ultimately fall short will face enforcement action, including possible fines.

Ofcom expects to publish its final guidance in early 2025, after which the government will bring these duties into force.

“Our practical guidance sets out a range of methods for highly effective age checks. We’re clear that weaker methods – such as allowing users to self-declare their age – won’t meet this standard,” said Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive.

“Regardless of their approach, we expect all services to offer robust protection to children from stumbling across pornography, and also to take care that privacy rights and freedoms for adults to access legal content are safeguarded,” Dawes added.

Latest research shows that the average age at which children first see online pornography is 13 – although nearly a quarter come across it by age 11 (27 per cent), and one in 10 as young as 9 (10 per cent).

The regulator said that websites and apps must introduce ‘age assurance’ – through age verification, age estimation or a combination of both – which is ‘highly effective’ at correctly determining whether a user is a child or not.

“Ofcom’s job is to produce guidance to help online pornography services to meet their legal responsibilities, and to hold them to account if they don’t. Our draft guidance sets strict criteria which age checks must meet to be considered highly effective; they should be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair,” the regulator stressed.

“We also expect services to consider the interests of all users when implementing age assurance. That means affording strong protection to children, and taking care that privacy rights are safeguarded and adults can still access legal pornography,” it noted.

The vast majority of people are broadly supportive of age assurance on online pornographic sites as a means of protecting children.

ALSO READ-Apple to Bolster UK Workforce in Push for Artificial Intelligence Advancements

Previous Story

Pro-Palestinian Protest in Philly Draws White House Flak

Next Story

US Aid to Ukraine in Jeopardy

Latest from -Top News

UAE credit soars to the top

S&P Global, Moody’s Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings — have all assigned strong sovereign credit ratings to the UAE In a strong

Khamenei rebukes Trump

Khamenei said Iran had triumphed over the US and downplayed the impact of the strikes on the country’s nuclear infrastructure Iran’s Supreme

UAE powers up China ties

Dr Sultan Al Jaber’s China visit boosts UAE-China strategic ties, focusing on energy, renewables, and industrial cooperation amid record bilateral trade and

Khamenei threatens more strikes

Iran’s supreme leader rebukes Trump’s ‘surrender’ remark, warns of repeat attacks on US bases and Israeli targets. In his first public appearance

Don't Miss