SafetyTech company Privately SA has launched AgeAI+, a new retail age assurance solution designed to help retailers manage increasingly complex age-control requirements without compromising privacy or customer convenience.
AgeAI+ automates age assurance directly at the point of sale and can trigger the correct age-check flow depending on the product being purchased. Customers can choose to verify by facial age estimation, ID scan, or manual cashier check. It’s a solution that is fully offline, meaning it works where network coverage is variable.
The launch comes as retailers prepare for further age-related regulation, including the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is due to come into force in 2027. Retailers must already manage various age-checking requirements depending on the product, including 18+ for tobacco and vapes, Challenge 25 for alcohol, and potentially 16+ for energy drinks.
“While those rules may appear manageable on paper, applying them consistently at the till is a major challenge for retailers, particularly in convenience and high-throughput store environments,” said Nicolas Sierro, Product Manager, Privately SA. “AgeAI+ was built to solve that problem, and does so in a way that preserves privacy and is utterly frictionless for the customer.”
Unlike cloud-based age verification tools, AgeAI+ does not depend on live connectivity at the point of sale. Furthermore, it supports more than 2,500 document types, including passports, national identity cards and driving licences, and digital IDs will be integrated in a forthcoming release.
AgeAI+ was extensively trialled across stores in Europe, with 96 per cent of consumers choosing to complete the automated check themselves (face or ID), and just four per cent opting for a manual cashier check. Age estimation was completed in a median of 0.63 seconds, and ID scanning in 5.1 seconds.
“We’ve been speaking with some of the UK’s largest retailers as well as independent stores about this, and what comes up consistently across them all is the lack of reliable network connectivity and managing the complexity of regulation execution,” continued Nicolas Sierro. “AgeAI+ addresses these directly, while protecting customer privacy and maintaining a seamless shopping experience.”
AgeAI+ processes everything on the device. No image, biometric data or document information is ever stored or transmitted. Privately’s products are ISO27566-1, GDPR (UK) and UKAS Challenge 25 certified and have been evaluated for performance by NIST.