Ondato’s biometric age verification joins NIST leaderboard

Ondato has joined the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology evaluation of age assurance algorithms in the latest update to the program, scoring the fifth-lowest mean absolute error (MAE) rate for the application dataset, at 3.153, and fourth-lowest MAE for the border dataset (3.225).

The company’s results also include top-five results by false positive rate (FPR) for the Challenge 25 use case with the border dataset, and by MAE for Age 13-16 in the Child Online Safety use case. Ondato says the results show that its software can help protect sensitive information, mitigate security risks, and comply with regulations, while delivering high accuracy with minimal bias across demographics.

NIST’s Face Analysis Technology Evaluation (FATE) Age Estimation & Verification was updated with a new report on January 28, 2025 to include Ondato. NIST also added measures for the lowest and highest false negative rates (FNRs) to its leaderboard for Child Online Safety (13-16) in December.

“This accomplishment provides our customers with greater assurance that their data is protected by one of the most advanced and secure age verification systems on the market,” says Ondato Co-founder and CEO Liudas Kanapienis. “We will continue to lead the way in delivering trusted solutions for businesses navigating digital transformation.”

Ondato’s released its reusable age verification technology, based on device recognition, age estimation and face biometrics, near the end of last year. An explainer published by the company last week notes the importance of age assurance to businesses selling alcohol and tobacco, online gambling sites, content and social media platforms and ecommerce vendors.

Germany’s Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM) has approved Ondato’s age verification technology as compliant with the country’s legal and technical requirements.

You can learn more about Ondato’s age verification technology in a upcoming webinar on “Navigating the UK’s Online Safety Act – choosing the right age verification tech” co-hosted by Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence on March 6.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric testing  |  biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE)  |  NIST  |  Ondato