--- description: Don't worry if it's a bit off title: Microsoft's New Website Tries to Guess Your Age image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Microsoft's New Website Tries to Guess Your Age by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 30, 2015 8:14 PM CUT by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 30, 2015 8:14 PM CUT If you’ve ever wondered how old you look in pictures, Microsoft has just developed an addictive new website that offers the answer. The site, [how-old.net](http://how-old.net/# "undefined"), takes data from an uploaded image to determine the subject’s age and gender. According to Microsoft’s [Machine Learning blog,](http://blogs.technet.com/b/machinelearning/archive/2015/04/29/fun-with-ml-stream-analytics-and-powerbi-observing-virality-in-real-time.aspx "undefined") the project started as a simple experiment among Microsoft engineers. They were “playing around” with new face detection software and decided to ask a couple hundred people to try it out and tell them what they thought. Within hours, the experiment had reached 30,000 people curious about whether a simple Internet site could accurately read their face. Using existing Microsoft APIs, or application program interfaces, the engineers combined a program that detects information about faces in a photograph with tools that embed search results and location data. Don’t sweat it if the site gets your age wrong—different pictures elicit different results, so you can always try again. ### See How Presidents Age in the White House, According to Microsoft  Barack Obama in January, 2009\. Real age: 47 Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  Barack Obama in April, 2015\. Real age: 53 Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP  George W. Bush in April 2001\. Real age: 54 Antonio Scorza—AFP/Getty Images  George W. Bush in May, 2008\. Real age: 61 Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  Bill Clinton in January, 1993\. Real age: 46 White House/AFP/Getty Images  Bill Clinton in January, 2001\. Real age: 54 Paul J. Richards—AFP/Getty Images  George Bush, Sr. in January, 1989\. Real age: 64 Cynthia Johnson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Bush, Sr. in December, 1992\. Real age: 68 Renaud Giroux—AFP/Getty Images  Ronald Reagan in January, 1981\. Real age: 70 Harry Langdon—Getty Images  Ronald Reagan in February, 1989\. Real age: 78 Dirck Halstead—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3842400/how-old-microsoft-guess-age/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3842400/how-old-microsoft-guess-age/"},"headline":"Microsoft's New Website Tries to Guess Your Age","datePublished":"2015-04-30T20:14:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:40.759Z","description":"Don't worry if it's a bit off","url":"https://time.com/3842400/how-old-microsoft-guess-age/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Tech","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3842400/how-old-microsoft-guess-age/","name":"Microsoft's New Website Tries to Guess Your Age"}}]}] ```