YouTube’s got a new trick up its sleeve: it’s about to guess your age… by spying on what you watch.
Starting this week, a handful of U.S. users will be part of a test where AI scans your viewing history and goes, “Hmm… teen vibes?”
And no — it doesn’t care if your profile says you were “born” in 1985. The algorithm knows you’re lying if your homepage is nothing but Minecraft builds and K-Pop fancams.
And If YouTube flags you as a minor, you’re instantly dropped into teen mode, which means:
Screen-time “take a break” reminders
Locked-down privacy — tighter settings baked in.
Tamer recommendations — yep, your feed gets PG-ified
No personalized ads (Google policy for anyone under 18)
The messy part? If you get wrongly “teenified” by the AI, you’ll have to prove you’re an adult with a government ID, a credit card, or even a selfie. And sure, you can watch without logging in… but some videos will auto-block unless you show proof of age.
Why now?
The heat’s been on since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law designed to keep minors off adult sites. Some lawmakers want platforms like YouTube to take the lead. Others say Apple and Google’s app stores should own the job.
Meanwhile, privacy watchdogs like the EFF and CDT are warning that this could mean more surveillance and less freedom for everyone .
The problem: If this doesn’t spiral into chaos — and given AI’s tendency to hallucinate, that’s a big “if” — it could be a game-changer for keeping teens safer online. But knowing the internet? Someone’s probably already cooking up a genius workaround to beat the system.
Bottom line:
YouTube’s trying to pull off a delicate match between teen safety and privacy rights. Whether this AI plays wedding officiant or total wedding crasher… we’ll find out soon.
