Roblox is censoring chats with AI

Roblox is using AI to alter the content of chat messages on its platform in real time using a new feature rolling out today. Real-time chat rephrasing goes beyond the current filtering for banned language, which replaces certain words and phrases with “#” symbols. Now, Roblox says those words and phrases can be “translated into more respectful language that remains closer to the user’s original intent.”

For instance, if a user posts “Hurry TF up!” in chat, Roblox’s AI will alter the message to say “Hurry up!” instead. Whenever this happens, Roblox says “everyone in the chat is notified that the text has been rephrased to keep things civil.” Minecraft similarly filters out profanity in certain in-game chats, but its filter only replaces banned words with symbols or blocks messages containing them, rather than rewording messages.

Roblox’s real-time chat rephrasing is currently only available for “in-experience” chats between players who have completed age verification and are in similar age groups. Last month, Roblox began requiring age checks to use its chat features on its platform. Once a user’s age is confirmed, they can chat with other players in similar age brackets (i.e., users in the 9–12 age group can chat with players in the 13–15 age group).