Roblox has today announced a suite of new safety features coming to the platform, including an AI used to estimate a teenager’s age by taking a selfie.
Roblox, used primarily by children and teens, has long been criticised for its questionable safety measures. Last year, it was claimed Roblox reported 13,316 instances of child exploitation in 2023. The company has taken further steps to improve child safety over the past year, though back in March co-founder and CEO David Baszucki said parents shouldn’t let their kids play Roblox if they’re “not comfortable” about their safety.
Now, the company is advancing its “safety and civility vision” with the addition of four new features, as outlined in a new blog.
“Safety has always been foundational to everything we do at Roblox,” the blog reads. “Our goal is to lead the world in safety and civility for online gaming. We’ve spent nearly two decades building sophisticated safety systems, which supports our mission of connecting a billion people every day with optimism and civility.
“We are dedicated to supporting experiences that are both deeply engaging and empowering for players of all ages, while continuously innovating how all users connect and interact. Today, we’re taking a significant step forward and announcing an expansion of our safety platform.”
The first feature is Trusted Connections. Friends will now be known as Connections, and users 13 and older will be able to specify Trusted Connections, intended to allow for more free communication with people they know. Users who are 13 to 17 can add each other, but can only add users who are 18+ through a QR scan or Contact Importer. All conversations remain proactively monitored by Roblox.
Trusted Connections requires age verification. For this, Roblox is rolling out Age Estimation as a prerequisite. Essentially, this is an AI that will estimate a user’s age by analysing a video selfie “against a large and diverse dataset”, which the company assures is “handled securely”. If the tool identifies a user as under 13, or is unable to verify age, Trusted Connections will be inaccessible. Age verification can still be done with an ID – and in future, by parental consent. How easily this can be exploited remains to be seen.
Thirdly, Roblox is adding new privacy and well-being tools to “help teens set healthy boundaries”. This includes online status controls, a do not disturb mode, and insights into screen-time.
Lastly, the parental controls for parents of users aged 13 and under will be extended globally to parents of teens too. Parents will be able to set up a linked Roblox account to gain visibility into a child’s Trusted Connections, screen-time insights, and spending notifications – if a teen gives consent.
“Today’s announcement marks an important step forward, as we build on our existing safety systems with investments in advanced machine learning with AI, content moderation, and comprehensive parental controls,” the blog post concludes.
“The launch of Trusted Connections with Age Estimation, new privacy tools, and parental insights for parents of teens builds on our existing safety systems to deliver industry-leading, age-informed communication that redefines digital safety and civility.”
On top of safety concerns for users, Roblox has previously been accused of “exploiting” young game developers, as per an investigation in 2021.