The future of the internet isn’t the “metaverse”, it’s actually AI age verification not only to upload porn but to watch it as well.

Digital minister Chris Philp says it is too easy for children to access pornography online so porn sites in UK will have to check ages in a planned update to the online safety bill.

The policy of introducing age checks on pornography was first announced by the Conservatives during the 2015 general election campaign but has repeatedly run into difficulties. Two years ago the government abandoned its previous plans to introduce age verification for adult sites when faced with technical difficulties, concerns from privacy campaigners, and legislative oversight.

The digital minister, Chris Philp, said it is too easy for children to access pornography online. “Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see,” he said. “We are now strengthening the online safety bill so it applies to all porn sites to ensure we achieve our aim of making the internet a safer place for children.”

The government said that any age assurance method used by pornography sites would have to protect users’ privacy. However, individual companies will be allowed to decide how to comply with the new rule, although the communications regulator, Ofcom, may recommend some age-checking technologies.

More than a third of the British population are estimated to watch online pornography, according to estimates by the age verification industry, meaning it could be an enormous technical challenge to check all their ages – and a potential big business for the companies that carry out the checks.

Right now companies like OnlyFans, Pornhub, and Sex.com (another other porn sites) have already begun to put AI-driven age checks into place, that requires a person to verify their identity and prove they are over 18 before allowing them to upload content to their platforms, regardless of where the content creator lives. This is for any user who wants to upload content, including those from the United States, the UK, or Europe.

While most other platforms only ask you to verify your age and identity if you are going to upload content, OnlyFans has taken it a step further and has even begun to verify the identity of some end-users as well.

While it’s only just getting off the ground, you can expect more companies to require you to verify your age in the future.