YouTube is preparing to introduce a new artificial intelligence system that can detect if a user is under 18 years old, even if they lie about their age while creating an account. Starting August 13, the platform will begin testing this AI age estimation feature in the United States, with plans to gradually expand it to more users later.

This move comes at a time when governments across the world are urging tech companies to take more responsibility for online safety, especially for children. In recent months, countries like the UK, members of the European Union, and several US states have brought in new rules that require platforms to verify users’ ages and prevent minors from accessing harmful or inappropriate content.

YouTube’s AI will look at several signals to estimate a user’s age. This includes the types of videos they search for, the kind of content they usually watch, and how old their YouTube account is. Based on these factors, the system will try to figure out if a user is a teenager. If the system concludes that the user is under 18, it will automatically apply certain restrictions—regardless of the date of birth they entered while signing up.

These protections include blocking access to age-restricted videos, turning off personalised ads, showing “take a break” notifications, and reducing repeated recommendations on sensitive topics like body image. YouTube will also display privacy reminders whenever teen users try to upload a video or comment on one.

The platform has clarified that users who feel they’ve been wrongly flagged as minors will be able to prove their real age by uploading a government ID, using a credit card, or clicking a selfie.

James Beser, YouTube’s Director of Product Management, said in a blog post that the company is rolling out the system to a small group of users in the US first to monitor how well it works. If successful, the company will bring the feature to other regions as well.

This isn’t the first time Google, YouTube’s parent company, has spoken about using machine learning for age detection. The company had announced earlier this year that AI would play a bigger role in improving online safety across its platforms.

However, YouTube has also warned creators that they might see a drop in their teenage audience, which could lead to a small decline in ad revenue. Since teen users will be shown only non-personalised ads, the overall value of those ad impressions may go down. That said, YouTube expects the impact to be minor for most creators.

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