Facial age estimation is the use of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

to estimate the age of a person based on their facial features.

Computer vision Computer vision tasks include methods for image sensor, acquiring, Image processing, processing, Image analysis, analyzing, and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical ...

techniques are used to analyse the

facial features A facial is a family of skin care treatments for the face, including steam, exfoliation (physical and chemical), extraction, creams, lotions, facial masks, peels, and massage. They are normally performed in beauty salons, but are also a c ...

in the images of millions of people whose age is known and then

deep learning Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that focuses on utilizing multilayered neural networks to perform tasks such as classification, regression, and representation learning. The field takes inspiration from biological neuroscience a ...

is used to create an

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

that tries to predict the age of an unknown person. The key use of the technology is to prevent access to age-restricted goods and services. Examples include restricting children from accessing

Internet pornography Internet pornography or online pornography is any pornography that is accessible over the Internet; primarily via websites, FTP connections, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. The greater accessibility of the World Wide Web from t ...

, checking that they meet a mandatory minimum age when registering for an account on social media, or preventing adults from accessing websites, online chat or games designed only for use by children. The technology is distinct from

facial recognition system A facial recognition system is a technology potentially capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a Film frame, video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verif ...

s as the software does not attempt to uniquely identify the individual. Researchers have applied

neural network A neural network is a group of interconnected units called neurons that send signals to one another. Neurons can be either biological cells or signal pathways. While individual neurons are simple, many of them together in a network can perfor ...

s for age estimation since at least 2010.

Evaluation

An ongoing study by the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

entitled 'Face Analysis Technology Evaluation' seeks to establish the technical performance of prototype age estimation algorithms submitted by academic teams and software vendors including

Brno University of Technology Brno University of Technology (BUT; Czech: ''Vysoké učení technické v Brně'', VUT) is a university located in Brno, Czech Republic. Being founded in 1899 and initially offering a single course in civil engineering, it grew to become a maj ...

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) () is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Central Europe. It is also the oldest non-military technical universi ...

, Dermalog, IDEMIA, Incode Technologies Inc, Jumio, Nominder, Rank One Computing, Unissey and Yoti.

Commercial use

Commercial users of facial age estimation include

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

OnlyFans OnlyFans is an Internet content subscription service based in London, England. The service is widely known for being popular with sex workers who produce pornography, and also hosts other content creators including athletes, musicians, and com ...

. In January 2025,

John Lewis & Partners John Lewis plc (trading as John Lewis & Partners) is a British department store chain founded by John Lewis in 1864. It is part of the John Lewis Partnership, John Lewis Partnership plc, a holding company held in a trust on behalf of its emplo ...

announced that had started using the technology to check the age of people shopping for knives on its website, to comply with UK legislation to limit knife crime. In the UK, several

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chains have taken part in

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

trials of the technology to automate the checking of a customer's age when buying age-restricted goods such as alcohol. UK legislation introduced in January 2025 mandates robust forms of age verification hosting adult content viewable in the UK by July 2025. Allowable methods include facial age estimation.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Age Verification Providers Association
Minimum ages Facial recognition Automatic identification and data capture Video surveillance Computer vision

Evaluation

Commercial use

See also

References

External links