Roblox has announced a major new safety system that uses artificial intelligence to estimate the age of every user on the platform.
CEO David Baszucki said the plan is to complete the rollout by the end of the year. Here are his words: “We plan to use AI to estimate the age of everyone on Roblox. This is all expected to be completed by the end of this year.”
This is intended to address ongoing concerns about minors and how they interact with others on the platform. Investors did not react positively.
Roblox stock fell on Friday after the company announced a push for safety along with comments about planned spending increases in 2026. Despite that decline, the stock is still up more than 93% this year.
In the third quarter, Roblox reported revenue of $1.36 billion. This is a 48% increase compared to last year’s expectations and exceeded expectations of $1.09 billion. However, the company also posted a net loss of $257.4 million (compared to $240.4 million in the same period last year).
Bookings increased by 70% year-over-year, and daily active users increased by 70%. Despite this growth, management expected increased capital spending and warned that the new facial age estimation system could create what it called “engagement friction.”
Wall Street didn’t like the sound of that.
Analysts highlight risks to engagement metrics
JPMorgan analyst Corey Carpenter rates Roblox as “overweight.” He said the new face estimation feature could reduce usage of the player as users become more familiar with the process.
Carpenter wrote, “Facial estimation is a key safety measure that could impact engagement next year. Management believes it is prudent to anticipate early friction, but it is difficult to quantify at this time.”
Roblox built its model around players spending long periods of time inside its world. Any slowdown will be closely watched by investors.
Baszucki explained that the system is part of Roblox’s broader safety framework. He said the company wants to create what he calls the “gold standard of communication safety on the Internet,” pointing to strict text filters and a ban on sharing images and videos in chats.
He added that the AI age system has already been tested internally. “It’s really elegant,” he said. “I’m very optimistic that the friction that this may create will actually be beneficial to us in the long run.”
The company is also under legal pressure. The Florida lawsuit alleged that Roblox did not do enough to prevent minors from encountering harmful content. Roblox denied these claims.
Regulators and lawmakers are also calling on all major platforms to improve age verification and safety tools. Other platforms are working as well. Instagram enforces PG-13 restrictions for users under 18.
Verification process can cause user backlash
One-third of Roblox’s 150 million daily active users are under the age of 13. Therefore, safety changes are more urgent, but also more complex. The face estimation process takes about 30 seconds and requires the player to turn on the camera and rotate their head.
This can be even more difficult on consoles and mobile devices. Carpenter noted that Roblox users spend an average of 2.5 hours per day on the platform, and the ability to interrupt that routine could dampen engagement.
Roblox currently runs more than 400 AI systems across its platform, including systems that generate new game content, moderate chat, and translate languages. The company is also building a new data center to support its AI operations.
Baszucki said there will be new 4D generation tools that will allow users to create objects just by speaking.
Despite short-term concerns, Carpenter remains positive about the business, predicting a 20% increase in bookings next year and believing margins will start improving again by 2027.
However, Carpenter lowered his 2026 price target from $160 to $145. “There is no debate about the platform’s near-term momentum,” he wrote.
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