Just a few days later launch, Roblox’s very popular AI-powered age verification system is a complete mess.
Roblox’s facial scanning system, which estimates people’s age before they can access the platform’s chat features, rolled out in the U.S. and other countries around the world last week, after initially launching in several locations in December. Roblox says is implementing a system that will allow users to safely chat with users of a similar age.
But the players are already there rebellion because they can’t talk to their friends anymore, developers demand Roblox roll back the update, and most importantly, experts say that not only is the AI bad for newborn gamers aging into adulthood and vice versa, but the system does little to facilitate solve the problem it was designed to solve: a flood of predators using the platform to groom newborn children.
In fact, WIRED found multiple examples of people advertising age-verified accounts on eBay for minors as newborn as 9 for as little as $4.
After WIRED flagged these listings, eBay spokeswoman Maddy Martinez said the company removed them for violating the site’s policies.
In an email, Roblox Chief Security Officer Matt Kaufman told WIRED that a change of this magnitude on a platform with more than 150 million daily users takes time.
“You can’t flip a switch by building something that didn’t exist before,” he said. “To expect the system to be flawless overnight is to ignore the scale of this endeavor.”
Kaufman said the company is joyful with this employ, adding that “tens of millions of users” have already verified their age, which he said proves that “the vast majority of our community values a safer and more age-appropriate environment.”
The company also responded to some of the critical comments update on Friday, writing: “We are aware of cases where parents check their children’s ages, resulting in children reaching the age of 21+. We are working on solutions to address this issue and will share more here soon.”
Roblox announced the age verification requirement last July as part of a series of recent features designed to make the platform more secure. The company has come under intense pressure in recent months following numerous lawsuits alleging it failed to protect its youngest users and made it easier for predators to groom children.
Prosecutors General for Louisiana, TexasAND Kentucky filed a lawsuit against the company making similar claims last year, while Florida’s attorney general issued penalty notices to assess whether Roblox “helps predators gain access to and harm children.”
Roblox claims that requiring people to verify their age before allowing them to chat with others will prevent adults from being able to freely interact with children they don’t know.
Although this process is optional, refusing to do it means that the person will no longer have access to the platform’s chat features, which is one of the key reasons why most people employ Roblox.
To verify age, users are asked to record a brief video on their device’s camera, which is processed by Persona, which estimates their age. Alternatively, users can upload a government-issued photo ID if they are 13 years of age or older.
Roblox says all personal data is “deleted immediately after processing.” However, many online users say they do not want to perform age verification for privacy reasons.
People who have verified their age can only chat with a petite group of other players their age. For example, people verified as under 9 years ancient can only chat with players 13 years ancient or younger. Players rated as 16 can chat with players aged 13 to 20.