Facial Age Estimation: A Research Roadmap for Technological and Legal Development and Deployment

TL;DR

This paper reviews the technological, legal, and ethical challenges of deploying automated facial age estimation systems across various sectors, emphasizing the need for fair, robust, and compliant solutions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive research roadmap addressing current challenges, legal considerations, and future directions for ethical and effective facial age estimation technologies.

Findings

Current systems support access control and personalization.

Legal and ethical issues are critical for deployment.

Future research should focus on fairness and robustness.

Abstract

Automated facial age assessment systems operate in either estimation mode - predicting age based on facial traits, or verification mode - confirming a claimed age. These systems support access control to age-restricted goods, services, and content, and can be used in areas like e-commerce, social media, forensics, and refugee support. They may also personalise services in healthcare, finance, and advertising. While improving technological accuracy is essential, deployment must consider legal, ethical, sociological, alongside technological factors. This white paper reviews the current challenges in deploying such systems, outlines the relevant legal and regulatory landscape, and explores future research for fair, robust, and ethical age estimation technologies.