John Lewis has implemented an AI-powered age verification service for sales of its online knives, in a move to prevent under-18s from purchasing kitchen knives.
The technology, developed by British company Yoti, uses facial age estimation to verify the buyer’s ages.
A John Lewis spokesman said: “We take safety incredibly seriously, and in line with strict government guidelines, have added an additional layer of security when customers purchase knives online.
“By adding facial age estimation at checkout, we can help customers buy from our range of knives while making sure they aren’t purchased by anyone under the age of 18.”
This new system marks the return of online knife sales at the retailer, which has been prohibited since 2009, and involve the customers consenting to having their faces scanned, and the AI provides the result, within seconds, confirming whether the purchaser is over 18 – according to The Times.
Yoti has said it has trained its AI on millions of facial images, estimates age with 1.3-year accuracy for people aged 13-17.
It also added that this technology is already used on social media platforms and adult sites and has been approved by Ofcom under the Online Safety Act.
Its system is more reliable than human judgment, with no discernible bias in age estimation across gender or skin tone, although accuracy does decline marginally for darker skin tones.
