Roblox has expanded its safety architecture from parental controls into a system that includes facial age estimation, artificial intelligence (AI), human moderation, and feedback from parents.
The video gaming platform has had parental controls for years, but Roblox said these have become stricter as children spend more time online. The company introduced facial age estimation in late 2025 and rolled it out globally in January 2026.
“Roblox has been around for 20 years. It has had parental controls because a big part of our civility initiative was making sure that parents are involved and understand what their kids are doing,” Papri Dev, head of APAC Communications at Roblox, told the media at the Unbox Roblox event in Manila.
“Parental controls were definitely there for kids, but they have become much stricter, and the safeguards have grown stronger as the years have progressed,” she said. “Especially in the last year and this year, a lot of progress has been made.”
Facial age estimation is now one of the checks Roblox uses to determine whether users can access certain features or interact with particular age groups. It supports Roblox Kids and Roblox Select, accounts introduced earlier this year for users under 9 and under 15, respectively.
Roblox also uses AI to detect content inside games and other experiences on the platform. Dev cited text written on graphics as one type of content that AI can identify and remove.
“I think we use a combination of human moderation and AI,” Dev said. “For example, we have a way for AI to figure out within a game if there’s anything being written on a graphic, or something like that, and it will get pulled down.”
“As AI progresses, it will become much easier, but we always look at a combination of human and AI moderation,” she said. “AI is also definitely being used on the safety side.”
Parents remain part of the system through parental controls, Family Zone, educational materials, and Roblox’s global parent council. The council gives the company feedback on the controls, resources, and guidance families need.
Roblox is inviting parents from the Philippines to join the council. The company also plans to form partnerships with local organizations in 2027 and develop more materials that reflect how Filipino families communicate. Some guides are already available in English and Tagalog.
“Parents form a big part of the advice that we take in terms of the things that are required,” Dev said. “Based on that, the civility team works on the resources and guides that are required, along with partnerships that we have with local organizations.”
Dev said parents can understand how their children use Roblox by playing with them. Family Zone, launched in July 2026, allows parents and children to explore the platform together.
“The main thing, to me, is co-play because co-play opens up the ability to communicate with the child and understand what’s going through the child’s mind,” Dev said. “It allows parents to connect a little bit more and become their friend in their space.”
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