Five of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains – Tesco, Co-op, Asda, Aldi and Morrisons – have joined a trial of facial age estimation technology, which it is claimed can accurately determine a customer’s age when purchasing alcohol.
The technology is being tested to see whether it is able to speed up alcohol sales and and make purchases more efficient than manual checks.
It will be built into supermarket self-service checkout terminals and will take photos of consenting customer’s faces for the analysis before deleting them once the process has been completed and the age has been verified.
However, there will still be a final “human” check before customers can leave the store and start boozing.
Developed by Yoti, the tech has been launched in Aldi’s Shop&Go store in Greenwich, and is claimed to be the world’s most accurate age estimation tech.
The system differs from the controversial facial recognition technology and works by training its AI-powered algorithm to check faces, with an average accuracy of 2.2 years; that figure rises to 1.5 years among those aged between 16 and 20.
The scheme was initially launched by the Home Office in March last year, when tech providers, bars and restaurants and retailers were invited to propose methods of digital checking a customer’s age, but the trials have been pushed back due to Covid-19.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), challenging young people for ID is one of the most common reasons for abuse of retail staff. The BRC has claimed that many retailers would welcome the introduction of the technology.
Yoti has said that the only data that is shared with the retailer is the age check and that no human will ever see the photo, apart from during the trial in order to abide by current laws, where an employee will need to see the standard forms of identification.
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