⚠️ AI-enabled age assurance technologies undermine privacy and digital safety by exposing users to potentially harmful storage and use of their data.

ℹ️ This means that systems and/or technologies used to check your age online may collect and store sensitive personal information.

Your fellow Canadians recommended that the federal government ought to:

Mandate, in cases where age assurance is used, that companies adhere to stronger regulation surrounding the use of sensitive age assurance data, including by imposing:

1. Strict purpose limitation to the use of age assurance data;
2. Time-limited storage;
3. Safety audits on platforms and third-party data collectors; and,
4. Protocols for leakage protection in models and training.

These compliance mechanisms ought to be enforced by a Regulator.

⚠️ The use of verification technologies to restrict young people’s access to social media, AI platforms, and online community spaces increases the risk that restricted users could be displaced to unmoderated and dangerous platforms.

Participants recommended that the federal government ought to:

Introduce measures to minimize young users’ exposure to harmful design features and content across all digital platforms, including by:

1. Increasing transparency measures by requiring digital safety and compliance reporting;
2. Requiring that AI generated media content be identified through digital watermarking technology; and,
3. Reducing sycophancy and positive reinforcement in AI chatbots.

ℹ️ What this means: Platforms should be more transparent about how they protect users, clearly label AI-generated content, and adjust AI chatbots so they don’t overly agree with or reinforce everything a user says.

⚠️ Generative AI platforms pose unique risks to children, including by increasing their access to harmful content and negatively impacting their cognitive and social development.

Participants recommended that the federal government ought to:

Create a standardized age-verification system to restrict children’s access to generative AI platforms through the creation of an anonymized digital token system, with associated programs and accessible resources to inform the public about its implementation.

ℹ️ This means: The government should create a system to check users' ages while maintainig their privacy, so that children cannot access generative AI tools.

Participants recommended that the federal government ought to:

Mandate that any AI platforms accessible to children, including in educational contexts, implement safety-by-design protocols to safeguard their use and promote learning and skills development.

ℹ️ Safety-by-design protocols focus on anticipating and preventing harm before it happens, so that online platforms are designed to protect users and support safer experiences by default.

We’d like to better understand how age assurance technologies and online platforms affect your privacy in everyday life. Have you noticed times when you were asked to verify your age, or when you've been restricted from accessing certain websites or types of content?

Whatever you share will remain fully anonymous.

So far, we’ve focused on AI-generated content, chatbots, misinformation, privacy, and age assurance. But other issues might matter just as much to you - for example AI and jobs, bias and discrimination, or the impact of AI on the environment.