During the 11th annual Roblox Developers Conference last week, the company announced a new slate of AI-based tools meant to “empower” creators and players within its platform.
Via a press release, the company shared details about five different tools. The most prominent are “advancing” generative AI (gen-AI) with “4D object creation,” where the fourth dimension is “interaction,” as well as real-time voice chat translation, which adds upon real-time text chat translation, which was released in February 2024.
The first item refers to an open-source 3D foundation model to create 3D objects and scenes on Roblox, which the company has been tinkering with since last year. Roblox claims that the use of gen-AI will enable interaction between objects, environments, and people, providing models with built-in functionality, such as a car that can be instantly driven and has doors that open. A “limited release” is slated for Q4 this year.
The second item aims to, starting next year, allow players who speak English, Spanish, French, and German to enable real-time voice translation when speaking through Roblox’s voice chat system.
Roblox claims AI tools will help creators “get from idea to shared reality faster”
According to the company, the other three tools are aimed at speeding up processes, such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text application programming interfaces. An example of this includes NPCs being “brought to life” by enabling creators to incorporate narration and character dialogue “instantly” using the text-to-speech API.
“Our goal is for developers to have the opportunity to transform their ideas into growing businesses,” said Nick Tornow, Roblox senior vice president of engineering. “Time and again, we see that when we give our creators powerful tools and opportunities, they create things that inspire us by pushing the boundaries of creative possibility. At Roblox, better tools, including many with AI capabilities, will help creators get from idea to shared reality faster.”
It’s worth noting that generative AI tools are increasingly generating skepticism among professional game developers.
Amidst the company’s ongoing push for AI tools, Roblox continues to expand its user base and the scope of what’s present on the platform. In July, the company announced a new licensing platform to allow creators to earn revenue crafting experiences based on existing franchises from Sega and Netflix, to name a few examples. That same month, the user-generated Grow a Garden had nearly 22 million concurrent users, and it became the “top experience based on spending” within one month of release.
The platform itself, however, has had no shortage of issues regarding moderation and player exposure, especially around its younger crowd. Last month, a new lawsuit accused Roblox of knowingly enabling the “systemic sexual exploitation and abuse of children across the United States.” A few weeks prior, the company introduced a “sensitive issues” tag for social, political, and religious experiences within the platform. Intended for parental control purposes, the descriptor applies user-generated experiences that include mentions or elements related to vaccination policies, gun control, marriage quality, reproductive rights, and others.
