John Lewis rolls out AI age checks for online knife sales

21 January 2025, 12:02

John Lewis has become the first store to introduces AI age checks for those purchasing knives online.

The retailer has employed the technology, called facial age estimation, to curb the illegal purchase of knives online by under 18s.

The process requires the knife purchaser to give permission for a photo of their face to be taken, with the image then processed by AI technology.

It has enabled John Lewis to begin selling kitchen knives online for the first time in over a decade, after the retailer ceased internet sales in 2009.

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According to creator, the AI process takes a matter of seconds and will determine whether the purchaser is over or under 18.

Developed by British company Yoti, the technology was trained using millions of facial images.

According to The Times, it estimates age with a 1.3-year accuracy for people aged 13-17.

Adding a buffer to the legal age limit, it ensures that knives are not illegally purchased by those deemed to fall within the margin of accuracy.

The company also uses anti-spoofing technology to stop those attempting to use other people's photos to cheat the age check.

The company claims its software is better than human judgment and it has been approved by the regulator Ofcom for use under the Online Safety Act.

Commander Stephen Clayman, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “We welcome technology which can help to ensure knives do not end up in the wrong hands and as we’ve said many times before, responsible retailing is a key element in this.

“There is however, much more to do across the market both on and offline to limit the accessibility of knives, including better age verification and this will be explored in detail when we publish our end to end review of knife sales with the Home Office in due course.”

Clayman recently told The Times that knife retailers “don’t have to tell us that they’ve sold someone 300 knives”.

It follows a string of violent knife attacks across the UK - most recently the killing of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, who was stabbed to death on a bus in Woolwich last week.

It also follows the guilty plea of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, who admitted to stabbing three young girls in a savage knife attack and had an “obsession with extreme violence” according to police.