Roblox Wants to Know How Old You *Really* Are: AI Age Guessing Joins the Party
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Roblox is adding an AI to guess your age via selfie in an effort to improve safety, which sounds like a good idea...unless it goes horribly wrong, of course.
Right, so Roblox is rolling out some new safety features, and one of them is... well, it's a bit Black Mirror, innit? According to Eurogamer, they're introducing an AI that tries to guess your age based on a video selfie. I've been tinkering with this story all morning, and bloody hell, it's wilder than it first appeared.
According to Roblox, this is all about making the platform safer, especially for younger users. (You know, the ones who are most likely to spend all their pocket money on Robux.) They've been under fire for a while now regarding safety measures, so this feels like they're trying to get ahead of things.
The main feature is called "Trusted Connections," which lets users 13 and older have a bit more freedom to chat with people they know. But to get that freedom, you gotta prove you're actually old enough. Enter the age-guessing AI. It analyzes a video selfie against a "large and diverse dataset" (whatever that actually *means*), and if it thinks you're under 13, or can't figure it out, you're stuck with the kiddie gloves. You *can* still verify your age with an ID, which seems like a much more reliable way to go about it.
They're also adding new privacy and well-being tools for teens, like online status controls and screen-time insights. Think of it as a built-in nagging system, but with a slightly less annoying interface (hopefully). And for parents of younger players, the parental controls are getting an upgrade to include teens as well. Parents can snoop-- sorry-- *gain visibility* into their teen's Trusted Connections and spending habits, with consent, of course.
Now, let's be real. This AI age estimation thing… sounds ripe for abuse, doesn't it? (But what does this mean?) How easy is it to trick? What happens to all that selfie data? Roblox assures us it's all handled securely, but color me skeptical. After all, they were accused of "exploiting" young game developers. And remember, back in March, Roblox CEO basically said, "Don't let your kids play Roblox if you're not comfortable with their safety". Hardly a ringing endorsement, is it?
So, Roblox is trying to get serious about safety. Good on them. But this AI thing… it's got me raising an eyebrow. Let's see if it's a genuinely useful tool, or just another PR stunt with potential downsides. Only time will tell.
Tags: Roblox, Safety, AI, Gaming News, Children's Games
Original article: Eurogamer