Earlier this month, Discord unveiled its plans to roll out an age verification system in March 2026, with global child protection settings set to fall into place alongside it – but, according to a company representative, this will rely on a combination of AI and human oversight.
Speaking in a new statement to GamesMarket, the unnamed official rep first explains how the system will work. "We do not automatically age-gate servers or content related to a specific game based on its rating alone," they clarify.
As for graphic content, Discord's current policy already doesn't allow for material depicting any real violence. "Discord's content safety filters are part of our broader Teen Safety Assist and safety-by-default approach."
The rep continues: "They help reduce exposure to certain categories of potentially sensitive image-based media, especially for teens." How will these filters work next month, though?
According to them, they'll be applied "with a combination of automated detection with AI validation and human review to proactively identify and age-gate servers." Unfortunately, this does sound like game-related servers could be affected regardless.
False flags are always possible, after all, and are admittedly a regular enough occurrence on other platforms. The use of AI for this sort of stuff is never clear-cut – let's face it, machines can make mistakes.
It's understandable, then, that folks are concerned about how this age verification system will work. This, coupled with the fact that people have found all sorts of creative ways to bypass it all in the UK (Death Stranding 2 faces and all).
I'm not surprised to see the whole age verification thing expanding globally, though. Roblox announced a similar system in November, with "facial age checks to access chat" coming to the platform. It does beg the question… what's next?
Looking for something to wishlist now? Be sure to browse our roundup of the best new games coming this year and beyond for great titles to anticipate.
