Supermarkets around the UK are to start using facial recognition as a means of verifying someone’s age at self-service checkouts.
NCR, the company that makes self-service checkouts has partnered with biometric security firm Yoti which specialises in facial recognition and age verification.
The new system lets you scan the item, at which point the checkout takes a picture of your face and using its software determines if you’re old enough.
For those of you concerned about any privacy issues Yoti says that no data is shared (including the pictures) and once the approval has gone through the image is permanently deleted.
As over half of all self-service checkout interventions are over age approval, NCR believes this can significantly reduce the amount of congestion caused when people are queueing to pay.
If you haven’t got your ID and you don’t fancy running the gauntlet, you can also download the Yoti app beforehand and create a secure online identity using both facial recognition and official government IDs.
Once created customers can just open the app and then get instant approval by scanning a QR code that appears on the self-service checkout every time they want to buy alcohol or cigarettes.
NCR and Yoti haven’t revealed which specific retailers have signed up for the technology they have said that it will be getting an initial rollout over the next few months.
However to The Telegraph Yoti did reveal that it would be used at two of the four main supermarket brands: Sainsburys, Tesco’s, Asda and Morrisons.