According to Response Source on September 12th, hundreds of independent e-cigarette stores in the UK will be using an innovative artificial intelligence application. This application reportedly provides automatic and highly accurate facial age estimation, eliminating guesswork in age verification and reducing the risk of fines up to £1500 for non-compliance.
Advocacy group OVA has partnered with British security technology company Privately SA to offer Privately's AgeAI age estimation system. The company claims that the AgeAI system is completely anonymous, does not transmit or store any images, and is certified under the UK's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Its highly accurate age estimation capabilities help avoid costly fines, protect store employees by reducing unnecessary ID checks on adults, and mitigate conflict risks.
James Van Aalst of OVA stated that,
We hope to proactively ensure that our members make every effort to avoid selling e-cigarettes to minors. Privately, AgeAI is the ideal solution in our industry. The customized version of AgeAI that we offer is industry-leading and specifically designed for e-cigarette retailers. It operates at a very fast speed during checkout, significantly reducing friction between employees and customers, and is very easy to set up. AgeAI also automates 'decline registration,' making compliance monitoring for stores more convenient.
AgeAI has also received approval from the Peterborough City Council, including EAL3 certification and compliance testing with UK GDPR, and has also undergone trials in Europe and the United States.
Deepak Tewari, the CEO of Privately SA, stated that
The e-cigarette industry is currently highly fragmented and receiving significant attention, with an urgent need to crack down on sales to minors. Members of the OVA can now rest assured that they have an automated, accurate, and fast solution, allowing store employees to avoid conflicts that may arise from ID requests or customer refusals.
Automatic age verification is the first step in achieving online safety and providing a user experience appropriate for the age group. Currently, minors are easily able to access adult content, gambling websites, or purchase restricted products such as e-cigarettes, fireworks, alcohol, and cigarettes. This situation can happen with just a few clicks online, while in physical retail stores, ID checks and fake IDs can cause constant friction. Automation is an effective solution to these problems, and our technology is applicable to a wide range of scenarios - whether online or offline.
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