Knives cannot be sold to minors in the U.K. In response, a retailer said it has adopted artificial intelligence (AI) that identifies age with photos after getting approval from regulatory agencies as knife sales have been blocked online.
According to the British Daily Mail and The Times on the 21st (local time), British department store chain John Lewis has introduced a Yoti system that can identify your age with just a photo without an identification scan with an AI system.
In the UK, after several stabbings, it has been banned from selling items with knives or blades more than 3 inches long to teenagers under the age of 18 since 2009.
To circumvent the situation, some teenagers bought knives through online malls, which completely disappeared. According to the law, John Lewis also removed the knife sales page from online malls in 2022. However, according to the online safety law, knife sales can be resumed using YOTI technology, which was approved for use by Ofcom, a regulator.
Yoti is already providing age verification services on social networking services (SNS) and adult video sites. The company said it has completed facial recognition software (SW), which is better than human judgment, by training with AI based on a database containing millions of face photos.
Click the purchase knife page on the John Lewis online mall to see a pop-up asking for age verification. If you accept the option, you can authenticate your age by registering a photo that will prove you are 18 or older.
According to YOTI, a test on teenagers aged 13 to 17 showed that AI SW accurately identified them as under 25 years old by 99.91 percent. The error margin was about 1.3 years. However, the company said that the accuracy rate decreased to 99.2 percent for non-white people.
Even if you try to detour using other people’s photos or masks, it is impossible because independently verified anti-spoofing technology is applied, Yoti explained.
Meanwhile, John Lewis’ move was announced as the British government prepared to introduce stricter rules on knife sales. The Ronan Act, proposed by Labour, is a bill that would ban a wide range of weapons and require further strengthening background checks on the sale of related products.
Commander Steeble Clayman, head of knife crime at the British Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “We welcome technology to help prevent knives from getting into the wrong hands. However, as I have said many times before, responsible retail behavior is key to preventing incidents.”
Meanwhile, British supermarket chains such as Asda, Morrison, and Tesco are also piloting the YOT at self-checkouts. The chains said they hope the system will be widely applied, eliminating the need to require physical identification from customers.
JENNIFER KIM
USA ASIA JOURNAL
