Roblox Unveils TikTok-Style Video Platform and AI Tools Amid Child Safety Concerns

Roblox announces short-form video feed for gameplay clips, new AI tools for creators, and more | TechCrunch

Online gaming platform Roblox is launching a TikTok-like short-form video feed for sharing gameplay moments, the company unveiled on Friday at the Roblox Developers Conference. The company also announced increased earnings for creators, new AI tools to boost creation, and other advancements in performance. The new short-form video experience, called "Roblox Moments," is launching in beta for users 13 and above. It allows users to capture clips of their gameplay, then edit and share those clips in a scrollable feed. Users can trim their clip to up to 30 seconds, add music, and write a description before sharing it. Plus, users can scroll through a feed of gameplay moments shared by the Roblox community, react to the clips using emojis, and jump into an experience right from a video. Later this year, Roblox plans to open up API-based capabilities for creators to allow them to build their own in-game creation and discovery systems. For example, creators will be able to showcase trending clips and highlights from their own gameplay, and create leaderboards for things like the coolest overtakes in a racing game. Roblox says a gradual rollout of the feature will allow it to test and refine moderation to ensure all content is age-appropriate. All content is subject to moderation before posting, and users can report inappropriate videos. As for the increased earnings for creators, Roblox is increasing the DevEx (Developer Exchange) rate, allowing creators to earn 8.5% more when they convert their earned Robux into cash. Now, 100,000 earned Robux will equal $380, rather than $350 when converted to cash. "This is a significant step that reinforces the company's dedication to fostering an economy where more creators can thrive and succeed," the company shared in a blog post. "For example, the average revenue for a Top 1000 developer was almost $1 million, up 2.9x since 2020." In terms of the new AI tools for creators, Roblox is launching a series of new updates that are designed to offer artistic freedom, enhanced functionality, and smarter development assistance, it says. Creators will be able to move beyond generating static 3D objects thanks to a new way of generating fully functional objects, starting with select vehicles and weapons categories. For example, a creator could provide the prompt: "a sleek, futuristic red sports car," and Roblox will generate an interactive car that can be driven. From there, creators can alter the car to their liking, such as allowing the doors of the car to open. Additionally, Roblox's new real-time voice chat translation capability will instantly translate voice chat into the listener's native tongue starting next year for players speaking English, Spanish, French, and German. Roblox also announced new Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text APIs to allow creators to build more immersive and interactive experiences. The Text-to-Speech API enables instant narration and character dialogue with 10 customizable English voice presets (with more coming soon), like a non-playable character (NPC) giving directions. The Speech-to-Text API supports voice commands, allowing gameplay actions like firing a cannon when a player says "Fire!" Roblox also announced new advancements in performance and fidelity, including a new mode called "Server Authority" that reduces in-game cheating and makes in-game physics interactions more realistic. Plus, avatars will soon have more lifelike motion, including running, climbing, and vaulting over obstacles with natural momentum. There will also be improvements in complex actions for avatars, like grasping items with fingers. In addition, Roblox plans to launch improvements that will allow its platform to run at a higher fidelity across devices without requiring additional effort from creators or sacrificing performance. The updates announced on Friday follow Roblox's recent announcement that it's expanding its age-estimation technology to all users and partnering with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to introduce age and content ratings for games and apps on its platform. These developments come amid ongoing lawsuits over child safety concerns.

Roblox announces short-video, AI features amid child safety concerns

Roblox on Friday announced new short-video and AI features that come amid increasing lawmaker scrutiny into how the company protects children on its platform. With Roblox Moments, users 13 and older will be able to create and share video clips of their gameplay with others on a feed within the platform. The artificial intelligence additions, meanwhile, will allow users to generate advanced 3D objects for the games they create on the platform. Although users can share video clips from mature games on Moments, users who do not meet the age requirements of those experiences will be unable to view them, the company said. Roblox will moderate each video shared on Moments and will allow users to "flag content that they find is inappropriate," said Matt Kaufman, Roblox safety chief. Moments is launching in a limited release on Friday. The AI features will roll out to users before the end of the year. Roblox users will be able to use the artificial intelligence tools to create objects, like futuristic monster trucks, that match the aesthetics of the games users build on the platform, said Anupam Singh, Roblox's senior vice president of engineering. Those creations will also be moderated, Kaufman said. Roblox faces a number of lawsuits alleging that its design enables online predators to exploit underage victims. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill sued Roblox in August, alleging the company fails to implement robust safety protocols to "protect child users from predators." At the time, Roblox said, "any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue."

Robolox announces TikTok-like shortform video app, AI tools for creators

Roblox is launching its very own TikTok-like shortform viral video app for in-game moments. Credit: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images On Friday, Roblox announced it would be launching a new social video app, plus new AI tools for Roblox creators. The popular online game platform shared these announcements at its Roblox Developers Conference. Roblox gaming clips and other short-form brainrot videos often go viral on vertical video platforms like TikTok and Reels. But, over on TikTok, they still have to compete with dancing videos, political talking heads, and viral AI slop. Enter: Roblox Moments, a TikTok-like short-form video feed for Roblox players to watch and share in-game moments. Roblox's announcements, especially its new social features, will likely come under scrutiny. Last month, Roblox endured a wave of headlines regarding lawsuits against the company regarding its allegedly lackadaisical child safety features. The app, which is launching in beta for users 13 years and older, will act much like TikTok's feed, allowing users to scroll through viral Roblox gameplay moments. Users will be able to clip and edit their own moments, up to 30 seconds long, and share them to their own feeds for users to view. In Roblox's own press release for Roblox Moments, the company quotes a YouTube announcement from last month regarding how Roblox-related content has garnered "over 1 trillion video views" on the Google-owned video platform. Clearly, Roblox itself wants a piece of that action and is launching its own video platform for gamers to post gameplay videos on. Along with editing and trimming their gameplay clips, users will be able to add music and a text description to their videos, much like they can do on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Furthermore, Roblox appears to have creators in mind as well, as Roblox Moments will also serve as a platform for users to share their own Roblox games. According to Roblox, viewers will be able to "join" experiences they view on Roblox Moments directly from the video that they are watching. Also, being that this is a developer conference, Roblox announced that it planned to release APIs for Roblox Moments, which would allow third-party developers to integrate new ways to capture, upload, and discover moments within Roblox games. Roblox Moments wasn't the only big announcement at the conference. New AI tools for creators will also soon make their way to Roblox. For example, creators will be able to enter a prompt regarding a specific vehicle or weapon they want their in-game character to use. Roblox's AI tool will then generate an interactive car based on the prompt, which their character can drive around in the virtual world. These functional creations are a significant upgrade from the static 3D objects that creators were generating in-game already Roblox is also rolling out a new real-time AI-powered voice chat translation tool, allowing English, Spanish, French, and German-speaking users to more easily interact and socialize. In addition, the company announced other AI-powered tools, like new text-to-speech and speech-to-text APIs for creators. The text-to-speech API will allow creators to integrate AI-powered voice narration and in-game character dialogue with at least 10 voice presets to start with. The speech-to-text API will allow users to control their characters in-game with vocal commands.

Roblox announces new AI tools and short-form video platform for creators

On Friday, Roblox announced it would be launching a new social video platform within Roblox, plus new AI tools for Roblox creators. The popular online game platform shared these announcements at its Roblox Developers Conference. Roblox gaming clips and other short-form brainrot videos often go viral on vertical video platforms like TikTok and Reels. But, over on TikTok, they still have to compete with dancing videos, political talking heads, and viral AI slop. Enter: Roblox Moments, a TikTok-like short-form video platform for Roblox players to watch and share in-game moments. Roblox's announcements, especially its new social features, will likely come under scrutiny. Last month, Roblox endured a wave of headlines regarding lawsuits against the company over its allegedly lackadaisical child safety features. Roblox Moments is launching in beta for users 13 years and older, and it will act much like TikTok's feed, allowing users to scroll through viral Roblox gameplay moments. Users will be able to clip and edit their own moments, up to 30 seconds long, and share them to Moments for other users to view. In Roblox's press release for Roblox Moments, the company quotes a YouTube announcement from last month regarding how Roblox-related content has garnered "over 1 trillion video views" on the Google-owned video platform. Clearly, Roblox itself wants a piece of that action and is launching its own video platform for gamers to share gameplay videos. Along with editing and trimming their gameplay clips, users will be able to add music and a text description to their videos, much like they can do on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Also, being that this is a developer conference, Roblox announced that it planned to release APIs for Roblox Moments, which would allow third-party developers to integrate new ways to capture, upload, and discover moments within Roblox games. Roblox Moments wasn't the only big announcement at the conference. New AI tools for creators will also soon make their way to Roblox. For example, creators will be able to enter a prompt regarding a specific vehicle or weapon they want their in-game character to use. Roblox's AI tool will then generate an interactive car based on the prompt, which their character can drive around in the virtual world. These functional creations are a significant upgrade from the static 3D objects that creators were generating in-game already Roblox is also rolling out a new real-time AI-powered voice chat translation tool, allowing English, Spanish, French, and German-speaking users to more easily interact and socialize. In addition, the company announced other AI-powered tools, like new text-to-speech and speech-to-text APIs for creators. The text-to-speech API will allow creators to integrate AI-powered voice narration and in-game character dialogue with at least 10 voice presets to start with. The speech-to-text API will allow users to control their characters in-game with vocal commands.