VoiceAssure is a voice-based privacy-preserving age estimation technology. is efficient in keeping minors out of adult spaces. Privately’s product received an independent , UK regulator approved prestigious Level 1 certification and joins a handful of global companies to deploy their age assurance products across many industries.
Privately's VoiceAssure analyzes patterns of speech in order to estimate the ages. It does so with complex statistical rules derived via Deep Learning methods. On top of the core age estimation routine, VoiceAssure contains other useful modules for liveness and quality check for optimal outcomes. Liveness checks are necessary to prevent minors from bypassing the barrier using robotic voices - for example Siri or Alexa - pre-recorded audio clips or voice modulation. VoiceAssure has already been deployed in restricted content industries since June 2022.
In March 2023, ACCS, a UKAS accredited conformity assessment body, examined VoiceAssure and noted the following:
- A 100% accuracy in predicting 13–14 year olds as minors.
- A 100% accuracy in predicting 26–27 year olds as adults.
Internal Testing: Privately has conducted live tests with more than 600 individuals whose native language was not English but French, German, Turkish, Hindi, and so forth. The results were impressive:
- A 100% accuracy in predicting less-than-15 year olds as minors
- A 100% accuracy in predicting older-than-24 year olds as adults
Age estimation results were consistent when the testers spoke their native language and when they spoke English. The system is also robust against biases on account of different genders and accents therefore very well adapted to large-scale market deployment.
Growing market
Historically the purchase of restricted goods and services including alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets or weapons has been subject to age verification. There is now a regulatory push for age assurance in online worlds as well. This is on account of rapid spreads of online advertisement, social media, adult sites, online video games, augmented and virtual realities. As a response, new regulation in the UK and US mandates Age Appropriate redesign for all web services including retail. Sellers and advertisers must ensure the user’s age beyond self-declaration.
(Press release / SK)
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