Roblox Introduces AI Selfie Age Checks for Unfiltered Chat and Trusted Connections

Roblox Introduces AI Selfie Age (Image Credit: Roblox)

Roblox is introducing new age verification rules that will limit access to certain chat and social features unless users prove they are over 13.

Roblox called it Age Estimation. This feature requires users to take a video selfie, which is then scanned using AI to estimate the user’s age.

Only those who pass this check—or verify with a government-issued ID—will be allowed to use Trusted Connections, a newly introduced tier that unlocks unfiltered text chat and the platform’s new Party feature for private voice calls.

The familiar Friends list will now be known as Connections, but only Trusted Connections—users confirmed to be over 13—will gain access to more open communication. Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 can mutually add each other, but if one of them is over 18, they'll need to confirm a real-life relationship through either a QR code scan or the Contact Importer tool.

While the idea is to allow older users more freedom, the company stresses that all interactions under Trusted Connections will still be proactively monitored. Roblox spokesperson Juliet Chaitin-Lefcourt confirmed to The Verge that despite the unfiltered nature of these chats, the company will still screen for “critical harm,” such as grooming behavior, sexual exploitation, and any content involving minors that raises red flags.

This move comes in response to past safety concerns. A Bloomberg report revealed that Roblox flagged over 13,000 instances of child exploitation in 2023 alone. The company has since increased parental oversight options, including the ability to block or report inappropriate accounts and restricting under-13 users from joining social hangouts.

The platform is also teaming up with Persona, a third-party identity verification firm, to manage both age estimation and ID checks. Roblox assures users that any biometric data collected will be deleted within 30 days, unless legal obligations require otherwise.

Beyond age checks, Roblox is also introducing well-being features to help users manage their time on the platform more responsibly. These include options to hide online status, enable a Do Not Disturb mode, and let teens set their own screen time limits—a control previously only available to parents.

For parents of users under 13, global parental insights tools are also being expanded to include teenagers. With consent, parents can now view screen-time summaries, see Trusted Connections, and receive alerts about in-game spending.

This marks one of the platform’s biggest safety and privacy overhauls yet. Roblox says it's part of its long-term mission to lead the gaming world in “digital civility” and secure interactions across age groups.