Roblox's AI-powered age verification system stumbles with major accuracy and safety failures

Roblox's AI-Powered Age Verification Is a Complete Mess

Roblox's face scanning system, which estimates peoples' ages before they can access the platform's chat functions, rolled out in the US and other countries around the world last week, after initially launching in a few locations in December. Roblox says it is implementing the system to allow users to safely chat with users of similar ages. But players are already in revolt because they can no longer chat to their friends, developers are demanding Roblox roll back the update, and crucially, experts say that not only is the AI mis-aging young players as adults and vice versa, the system does little to help address the problem it was designed to tackle: the flood of predators using the platform to groom young children. In fact, WIRED has found multiple examples of people advertising age-verified accounts for minors as young as 9 years old on eBay for as little as $4. After WIRED flagged the listings, eBay spokesperson Maddy Martinez said the company was removing them for violating the site's policies. In an email, Roblox's chief safety officer Matt Kaufman told WIRED that a change of this magnitude on a platform with over 150 million daily users takes time. "You can't flip a switch while building something that hasn't existed before," he said. "Expecting the system to be flawless overnight is ignoring the scale of this undertaking." Kaufman said the company was happy with the uptake, adding that "tens of millions of users" have already verified their age, which he claimed proved that "the vast majority of our community values a safer, more age-appropriate environment." The company also addressed some of the criticism in an update on Friday, writing: "We are aware of instances where parents age check on behalf of their children leading to kids being aged to 21+. We are working on solutions to address this and we'll share more here soon." Roblox announced the age verification requirement last July as part of a raft of new features designed to make the platform safer. The company has come under intense pressure in recent months after multiple lawsuits allege the company failed to protect its youngest users and facilitated predators to groom children. The attorneys general of Louisiana, Texas, and Kentucky also filed lawsuits against the company last year making similar claims, while Florida's attorney general issued criminal subpoenas to assess whether Roblox is "aiding predators in accessing and harming children." Roblox claims that requiring people to verify their ages before allowing them to chat to others will prevent adults from being able to freely interact with children they don't know. While the process is optional, refusing to do it means a person will no longer have access to the platform's chat functions, one of the key reasons most people use Roblox. To verify their ages, people are asked to take a short video using their device's camera, which is processed by a company called Persona that estimates their age. Alternatively, users can upload a government-issued photo ID if they are 13 or older. Roblox says all personal information is "deleted immediately after processing." However many users online say they are unwilling to conduct age verification over privacy concerns. Peope who have verified their ages are only allowed to chat to a small group of other players around their own age. For example, those verified as under 9 can only chat with players up to the age of 13. Players deemed to be 16 can chat with players between 13 and 20.

Act surprised - Roblox AI-powered age verification doesn't work

At this point, I kind of have to feel sorry for Roblox. The company came under increasing criticism for failing to adequately protect children, and then courted even greater controversy when it started requiring children as young as nine years old to submit a video selfie for age verification. The latest development in the saga is that the age verification process appears to be failing badly, with the company saying that you can't expect everything to work on day one ... Following growing criticism that the app was putting children at risk, Roblox introduced an age verification process . The company said it would do this to limit communication between adults and children in chat. The new feature got a partial launch in December of last year before being rolled out globally this month. In theory, Roblox offers a choice between age verification based on photo ID and AI age estimation from a video selfie. The reality, however, is that few young children have government-issued photo ID, and so need to go the video selfie route. While the company told us that the video selfies are only required for access to chat features, and are deleted after the checks are complete, many parents were extremely unhappy about the requirement. Wired took a look at how well the process is working and described the results as "a complete mess." Players, developers, and parents alike are unhappy, and the system simply isn't doing the job it was designed to do. The site found that the AI system was identifying children as adults, adults as children, and that predators can buy accounts which have been age-verified as children for as little as $4. Players are already in revolt because they can no longer chat to their friends, developers are demanding Roblox roll back the update, and crucially, experts say that not only is the AI mis-aging young players as adults and vice versa, the system does little to help address the problem it was designed to tackle: the flood of predators using the platform to groom young children. In fact, WIRED has found multiple examples of people advertising age-verified accounts for minors as young as 9 years old on eBay for as little as $4. The report cites Roblox's chief safety officer Matt Kaufman as saying that teething problems have to be expected. "You can't flip a switch while building something that hasn't existed before," he said. "Expecting the system to be flawless overnight is ignoring the scale of this undertaking" [...] The company also addressed some of the criticism in an update on Friday, writing: "We are aware of instances where parents age check on behalf of their children leading to kids being aged to 21+. We are working on solutions to address this and we'll share more here soon." I know I'm going to sound like a broken record at this point, but it's further fodder for my argument that Apple age verification with a privacy focus is infinitely preferable to thousands of developers using their own random processes. I also know that some commenters are going to want to wish away the need for it ...

Roblox age verification is fooled by shockingly simple tactics, users say

Roblox's AI-powered age verification system is stumbling out of the gate just one week after roll out. Credit: George Chan/Getty Images Roblox kicked off 2026 by attempting to deal with its most pressing issue: Predators taking advantage of kids playing and socializing on the video game platform. Last week, the company rolled out AI-powered age checks provided by third-party processor Persona for all of its users in order to place them in age-appropriate chats. The age verification process is mandatory if users want to chat on the platform. Unfortunately, according to a new report from Wired, there have been some real issues with the age verification system, and the result has led to backlash among users, parents, and Roblox developers alike. What's going on? As mentioned, in order to utilize the chat features on Roblox, users are now required to verify their age. To do so, Roblox users need to either upload a selfie for facial age estimation or provide a government-issued ID. Based on a user's age, Roblox then places the account in a specific age group category in order to help ensure that adults and children can't interact on the platform. However, just a week into the rollout of the age verification system, Wired has found that the AI has been making significant mistakes to the detriment of the platform. The report details how users over the age of 18 are being mistakenly labeled as kids and placed in the wrong age group category. The reverse has occurred as well, with users under 18 being placed in adult age groups. "ROBLOX AGE FACE SCAN VERIFICATION SAID MY 10 YEAR OLD LITTLE BROTHER WAS 16-17????" posted one user on X. "I'm 23 (nearly 24) and it's forced me as a 16-17 year old," said another user on X. "I don't want to be chatting with fucking children." Users under 18 have also posted videos of how they've tricked Roblox's age verification system. One user posted a video of a 3D animated avatar they uploaded, which Roblox's system identified as over 18. Another user, a young boy, posted a video of themselves fooling the Roblox' age verification system by drawing a mustache and beard on his face with a marker. The system indicated that it thought he was over the age of 21. And in a dark twist, Wired found that there was a black market growing on eBay where sellers were auctioning off Roblox accounts that were already age-verified, providing potential predators with yet another workaround to the system. Roblox game developers have also complained that the age verification system is hurting their games by decimating their chat activity. One developer shared an analytics screenshot that showed chat activity on their game declining by an average of 50 percent over the last week. Roblox is extremely popular with young children and teens. The company has previously said that half of the U.S. population under the age of 16 is on the platform. Because of this, predators have targeted the platform's user base and, as a result, Roblox has been hit with a number of lawsuits regarding child safety over the past year. For the good of both the user base and the platform, it's critical that Roblox gets this right. Roblox's creator forum has since been filled with complaints regarding the new age verification system. The company responded with its own post on the forum about how it will address some of the issues. "Roblox may periodically re-check users' age if fraud is suspected or take appropriate action if there we see signs of potential age misrepresentation," Roblox said in a post. "As part of our ongoing investment in safety, we will also be developing and improving detection for such behavior." Roblox also added an update to share privacy details regarding the age verification process. For example, Roblox says Persona does not retain any data and deletes a user's image as soon as the age verification process is complete. Mashable has reached out to Roblox for additional comment regarding the situation and will update this post when we hear back.

Roblox's Age Verification Is a Joke

As a result, young children are being put into age groups with much older users. Age-verification is all the rage these days. Governments around the world are putting the pressure on tech companies to make sure users are actually the age they should be in order to access their services. Sometimes, that means uploading an ID to prove your age; other times, it involves an AI system guessing how old you are based on your appearance, activity, and behavior. Roblox is the latest platform to roll out new age-verification rules, following intense criticism from parents, researchers, and even attorneys general, who, among other claims, assert that Roblox enables predators to connect with children via the platform. In response, the company announced new age-verification rules last September and November before rolling them out in select countries in December. This week, Roblox put them into effect in the U.S. That all sounds good -- the problem is, the system is a bit of a disaster. To verify your age on Roblox, you first complete a "Facial Age Estimation," which uses your device's camera to scan your face within the Roblox app. All photos and video sent through this verification system are forwarded to Persona, an age-verification service, and are subsequently deleted, according to Roblox. (If you're 13 or older, you can also submit an ID to verify your age instead.) If you verify via ID, the system will know your age based on what's printed on your documents. However, the age-verification service through Persona simply estimates your age from your face scan. Say you're 15 -- after the face scan, the system might estimate that you're between 13 and 15. Once the system knows (or thinks it knows) how old you are, it will allow you to chat with other Roblox users within your appropriate age group, as well as with groups that are nearby. Age groups are segmented as follows: 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, 21+. (Users under nine cannot access chat features at all.) If you don't want to verify your age, you don't have to. However, you won't have access to any chat functionality. Users 13 and older can chat with users outside their age range as long as they establish those chats through Roblox's Trusted Connections system. They can either add users via their phone's contacts app, or by scanning a QR code in-person to establish trust. Roblox says that a 12-year-old, for example, can chat with users 15 and younger, since that's the next age group in line, but won't be able to chat with users 16 and older. An 18-year-old, on the other hand, can chat with users 16 and older, but could also chat with younger users if they first add them as Trusted Connections. I see where Roblox is coming from here, to a degree. It makes sense to keep kids chatting with users their own age, but also allow room for close family members and friends to connect. I'm not crazy about some of these age pairings (is it really appropriate for 15-year-olds to be chatting with 9-year-olds?), but seeing as previous policies allowed anyone to chat with anyone, it's a step in the right direction -- or would be, if the system actually worked. As reported by WIRED, Roblox's age-verification system isn't exactly operating as intended. In fact, it's a mess. There are issues across the board, from failures in the age verification system itself, to users finding workarounds to fake their ages. WIRED found multiple users selling age-verified accounts on eBay to minors as young as nine for just $4. Some parents have also apparently given their kids permission to be verified as 21+, even when those kids are not that old yet. This child has his mother scan her face for him, giving him full access to the adult Roblox chat. If a child's parent won't cooperate, no problem: They can just use an avatar or photo of an adult to trick the system, or even draw a fake beard on themselves to get an 18+ estimation. Users are unhappy with the system too. This Reddit thread is full of players who are frustrated by the age-verification rules, either because the verification violates their privacy, or because they can't get placed into the right age group -- and, thus, are locked out of talking with their friends. What's worse, some are being identified as much younger or much older than they actually are, leading to older teens being placed in chats with young kids, or vice versa -- the exact situation Roblox claims it is trying to avoid. This user claims their 10-year-old sister was estimated to be between 18 and 20, while another says they were placed in the 13- to 16-year-old age group despite their "full-ass beard." One user even claims they were banned for telling a child to stay out of the 18+ chat. Roblox is aware of these and many other issues, and on it's developer forum the company announced a series of updates to address them. They include a new ability for parents to correct their kids' age if they were identified incorrectly, as well as an upcoming update to prevent parents from falsifying their kids' ages. But it's yet more evidence that AI age verification systems are not the perfect solution so many companies are touting them as. No one wants to put kids in harm's way, but there has to be a better system in place than these, which jeopardize user privacy, break core experiences, and can even inadvertently put kids in chats with users they shouldn't be talking to.

What parents need to know about Roblox's new age-check requirement

Roblox has begun requiring users in India to complete an age check before accessing chat features on the platform, marking a significant shift in how large gaming platforms approach online safety and age-appropriate communication. With this move, Roblox becomes one of the first major global gaming platforms to mandate age verification for users of all ages in order to chat. The change is aimed at limiting interactions between adults and minors and enabling communication that aligns more closely with a user's age group. The rollout in India follows earlier implementations in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where Roblox introduced age checks in December as part of a phased global expansion. According to the company, more than half of daily active users in those markets have already completed the process, with tens of millions of users worldwide having gone through age verification so far. The feature is also being rolled out across the US, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and other markets. Speaking to The Economic Times, Matt Kaufman, Chief Safety Officer at Roblox, said the decision reflects the company's long-standing focus on building safety systems around its predominantly young user base. "Roblox is somewhat unique among large platforms because from the very beginning, the assumption was that kids and teens would be a core part of the community," Kaufman said. "A lot of the safety systems were designed with that in mind, and that philosophy has carried forward." Age checks are completed through the Roblox app using a device's camera and rely on facial age estimation technology. The process typically takes a few seconds. Roblox says images and videos used for the estimation are processed by its verification partner, Persona, and deleted immediately after an age estimate is generated. Users aged 13 and above can also opt for ID-based age verification. While completing an age check is optional, features such as chat remain inaccessible unless verification is completed. Kaufman told ET that Roblox chose facial age estimation over traditional self-declared age inputs because of accuracy and privacy considerations. "Self-declared age has a lot of flaws. People often just click through to get to the product faster," he said. "Estimating age from a face, especially for users between about five and 25 years old, is far more accurate -- and from a privacy perspective, it avoids collecting sensitive personal data that comes with government IDs." Roblox says it has built appeal mechanisms for cases where age estimation may be incorrect. Users can re-verify using alternative methods, including ID verification or parental controls that allow parents to update a child's age. The company also uses behavioural signals to identify potential mismatches and may prompt users to repeat the age check when necessary. Once verified, users are assigned to one of six age groups -- under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, and 21+. By default, chat is allowed only within adjacent age bands, limiting exposure across wide age gaps. Chat remains disabled by default for children under nine, unless a parent explicitly provides consent after completing an age check. According to Kaufman, understanding age is not only about safety but also about civility. "What's appropriate interaction for two 10-year-olds is very different from what's appropriate for two 17-year-olds," he said. The age-check requirement is part of what Roblox describes as a multilayered safety approach. The platform already enforces strict communication rules for minors, does not allow image or video sharing in chat, and does not encrypt conversations -- allowing them to be monitored for safety. Kaufman explained that Roblox reviews all user-generated content before it goes live, including 3D assets, textures, avatars and game elements. Most of this moderation is automated, with AI systems handling first-level decisions, supported by human review teams. However, he acknowledged that moderation becomes more complex when human behaviour enters the picture. "Emergent content -- like what someone draws on a shared whiteboard in real time -- is harder to predict," he said, adding that Roblox processes hundreds of millions of hours of gameplay daily while monitoring for violations. When content is found to be violative, it is removed immediately. In cases where intent is unclear, Roblox attempts to balance enforcement with context, Kaufman said. Roblox has also expanded tools for parents, allowing them to view age-check status, manage spending limits, update birthdays and monitor activity through parental controls. The company's Safety Center serves as a central resource for caregivers. As more creators build businesses within Roblox, transaction safety has also become a growing focus. Developers earning on the platform are subject to higher levels of verification, while younger users remain protected through default spending limits and parental oversight. Looking ahead, Roblox is experimenting with tighter integration between virtual and real-world commerce, including pilots that allow users to purchase physical merchandise directly through the platform. Kaufman said keeping such transactions within Roblox could improve both safety and usability, though he acknowledged the added complexity. Kaufman noted that Roblox's approach to safety is closely tied to how the company grows. "We don't rely on large-scale advertising. Growth depends on earning trust -- especially from parents," he said. "That makes safety and transparency foundational, not optional." The company says future updates may extend age checks to other features, including real-time collaboration tools for creators, further embedding age-based safeguards across the platform. As Roblox continues its global rollout, the company believes the strong adoption of age checks so far signals that users are willing to accept additional friction in exchange for safer and more civil online interactions.