A booming industry of AI age scanners, aimed at childrens faces [Video]

In 2021, parents in South Africa with children between the ages of 5 and 13 were offered an unusual deal. For every photo of their child’s face, a London-based artificial intelligence firm would donate 20 South African rands, about $1, to their children’s school as part of a campaign called “Share to Protect.”

The company, Yoti, had developed an AI tool that could estimate a person’s age by analyzing their facial patterns and contours. But to make it more accurate – and to bolster the company’s clientele of government agencies and tech firms – its developers needed more photos of kids.

Riaan van der Bergh recalled dutifully scanning his daughter and son, ages 11 and 10, in their suburban Johannesburg living room one afternoon, telling them the technology could help keep kids safe on a perilous web. But other parents, he said, hated the idea with an “extreme passionate fear.”

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