内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/robloxs-ai-powered-age-verification-is-a-complete-mess/

内容总结：

备受关注的Roblox人工智能年龄验证系统上线仅数日便陷入混乱。这款通过面部扫描评估用户年龄以开放聊天功能的技术，上周在美国及多国推行后，已引发玩家集体抵制与开发者强烈抗议。

核心问题在于，该系统不仅频繁误判未成年人及成年用户年龄，更被专家指出无法有效阻止不法分子利用平台侵害儿童。调查发现，电商平台甚至出现以4美元低价兜售9岁儿童年龄验证账号的案例，相关商品虽已被下架，但暴露出系统安全漏洞。

Roblox首席安全官马特·考夫曼承认，在日活超1.5亿的平台推行创新系统需要时间，并称“期待一夜之间完美运行忽视了实施难度”。公司周五声明中提及，已发现家长代子女验证导致儿童被归类为21岁以上年龄组的情况，正着手修复。

该系统要求用户通过摄像头录制视频或上传身份证件完成验证，拒绝验证者将丧失聊天功能。尽管Roblox承诺立即删除处理后的个人信息，隐私担忧仍使大量用户拒绝配合。更严重的是，社交平台上涌现大量欺骗系统的案例——从虚拟头像到已故歌手照片均可通过验证，甚至有儿童用马克笔画皱纹便获评“21岁以上”。

独立极端主义研究者瑞·泰兰指出，当前最大风险在于大规模年龄误判，这使家长和监管者更难识别儿童是否在聊天中遭受侵害。

系统更新已对平台生态造成冲击：开发者论坛涌入数千条负面评价，多款游戏文本聊天使用率从85%骤降至36%，用户形容平台变得“死气沉沉”。开发者警告，这项“无人欢迎的改动”正在损害核心用户体验，将平台推向“监控而非沟通”的方向。

此次年龄验证是Roblox去年7月推出的安全升级措施之一。此前该公司已因未能保护未成年用户面临多州总检察长的诉讼与刑事调查，佛罗里达州更指控其“协助侵害者接触儿童”。尽管Roblox坚称年龄验证能阻止成年人与陌生儿童随意互动，但混乱的落地效果使其安全承诺备受质疑。

中文翻译：

Roblox备受瞩目的人工智能年龄验证系统上线仅数日便陷入全面混乱。

这款通过面部扫描评估用户年龄以开放聊天功能的系统，于去年12月在少数地区试运行后，上周正式登陆美国及全球多国。Roblox宣称此举旨在为用户营造更安全的同龄社交环境。

然而玩家群体已掀起抗议浪潮——他们无法再与朋友自由聊天，开发者们强烈要求平台撤回更新。更关键的是，专家指出该系统不仅频繁误判青少年与成人的年龄界限，对解决其核心设计目标更是收效甚微：即遏制不法分子利用平台诱导未成年人的泛滥现象。

事实上，《连线》记者在eBay平台发现大量公然出售已通过年龄验证的未成年人账号案例，其中甚至包含9岁儿童账号，售价低至4美元。经《连线》举报后，eBay发言人玛迪·马丁内斯表示这些违规商品已被下架。

Roblox首席安全官马特·考夫曼在邮件中向《连线》解释，对于日活超1.5亿的平台而言，如此规模的变革需要时间沉淀。"构建前所未有的系统绝非一蹴而就，"他写道，"期待系统一夜之间完美无瑕，无异于忽视这项工程的艰巨性。"

考夫曼对用户参与度表示满意，称"数千万用户"已完成验证，这证明"社区绝大多数人珍视更安全、更适龄的环境"。上周五的更新公告中，公司回应部分质疑："我们注意到存在家长代子女验证导致儿童被判定为21岁以上的情况，正在制定解决方案并将尽快公布。"

去年七月Roblox宣布年龄验证计划时，曾将其列为平台安全升级系列措施的重要环节。近月来该公司面临多重诉讼压力，多起案件指控其未能保护未成年用户，反而为侵害者提供便利。路易斯安那、德克萨斯、肯塔基等州的检察长去年相继提起类似诉讼，佛罗里达州检察长更发出刑事传票，调查Roblox是否"协助侵害者接触并伤害儿童"。

Roblox坚称年龄验证能阻止成年人与陌生儿童随意互动。虽然验证属自愿行为，但拒绝验证者将丧失平台核心功能——聊天权限。验证流程要求用户通过设备摄像头录制短视频，由合作方Persona公司进行年龄评估；13岁以上用户也可上传政府签发带照证件。平台承诺所有个人信息"处理完毕后立即删除"，但大量用户因隐私顾虑拒绝配合。

通过验证的用户仅能与相近年龄段的玩家交流：例如9岁以下者仅可与13岁以下玩家聊天，16岁验证者则限定与13-20岁群体互动。该系统去年11月率先在澳大利亚、新西兰、荷兰推出，但本周数据显示仅半数玩家使用该功能完成验证。

自全球更新实施以来，玩家与开发者涌入各大论坛、Reddit及X、TikTok等社交平台宣泄不满。《连线》核查数百条投诉发现，系统频繁误判用户年龄：一位自称23岁却被判定为16-17岁的用户在X写道"我不想和该死的小孩子聊天"；另一声称18岁的用户抱怨系统仍将其归为13-15岁群体。更有用户讽刺道："我留着满脸络腮胡，小号居然被划进13-16岁区间。"

同时存在低龄用户被归入成人组的情况，有X用户称其10岁弟弟被判定为18岁以上群体。玩家还分享大量欺骗系统的视频：有人使用虚拟形象蒙混过关，甚至用已故涅槃乐队主唱科特·柯本的照片通过验证。一段广泛传播的视频显示，男孩用黑色记号笔在脸上画满皱纹胡茬后，系统竟给出"21岁以上"的判定。

长期追踪利用Roblox侵害儿童网络的极端主义独立研究员莱·泰兰指出："网上充斥着各种欺骗年龄验证系统的教程，但更普遍的隐患在于大量账号被错误分类，这给家长和游戏监管者识别聊天室中的儿童剥削行为带来全新挑战。"

Roblox表示若怀疑年龄信息有误将进行随机复核，声明中写道："若涉嫌欺诈或存在年龄虚假表征迹象，我们将采取适当措施。作为持续安全投入的一部分，我们正在开发改进此类行为的检测机制。"但公司未说明具体复核方式及是否通知用户。

官方开发者论坛已涌入数千条负面评价，绝大多数要求撤销更新并倾听用户声音。多位开发者晒出数据：游戏内文字聊天使用率从平均85%暴跌至36%。有用户形容更新后的游戏体验"死气沉沉如同鬼城"，TikTok用户感叹"简直毫无生机"。部分玩家甚至在游戏内发起抗议活动。

"为何执意推行这项改动？"一位开发者在官方回应帖下质问，"根本没人需要这个糟糕的系统，它正在伤害核心用户群而非提供保护。Roblox本质是社交平台，这些更新却将我们推向毫无隐私、充满审查的未来，剥夺了交流与畅玩游戏的乐趣。"

更新说明：2026年1月13日美国东部时间下午2:10，《连线》补充了Roblox在文章发布后的回应声明。

英文来源：

Just days after launching, Roblox’s much-hyped AI-powered age verification system is a complete mess.
Roblox’s face scanning system, which estimates peoples’ ages before they can access the platform’s chat functions, rolled out in the US and other countries around the world last week, after initially launching in a few locations in December. Roblox says it is implementing the system to allow users to safely chat with users of similar ages.
But players are already in revolt because they can no longer chat to their friends, developers are demanding Roblox roll back the update, and crucially, experts say that not only is the AI mis-aging young players as adults and vice versa, the system does little to help address the problem it was designed to tackle: the flood of predators using the platform to groom young children.
In fact, WIRED has found multiple examples of people advertising age-verified accounts for minors as young as 9 years old on eBay for as little as $4.
After WIRED flagged the listings, eBay spokesperson Maddy Martinez said the company was removing them for violating the site's policies.
In an email, Roblox’s chief safety officer Matt Kaufman told WIRED that a change of this magnitude on a platform with over 150 million daily users takes time.
“You can’t flip a switch while building something that hasn’t existed before,” he said. “Expecting the system to be flawless overnight is ignoring the scale of this undertaking.”
Kaufman said the company was happy with the uptake, adding that “tens of millions of users” have already verified their age, which he claimed proved that “the vast majority of our community values a safer, more age-appropriate environment.”
The company also addressed some of the criticism in an update on Friday, writing: “We are aware of instances where parents age check on behalf of their children leading to kids being aged to 21+. We are working on solutions to address this and we’ll share more here soon.”
Roblox announced the age verification requirement last July as part of a raft of new features designed to make the platform safer. The company has come under intense pressure in recent months after multiple lawsuits allege the company failed to protect its youngest users and facilitated predators to groom children.
The attorneys general of Louisiana, Texas, and Kentucky also filed lawsuits against the company last year making similar claims, while Florida’s attorney general issued criminal subpoenas to assess whether Roblox is “aiding predators in accessing and harming children.”
Roblox claims that requiring people to verify their ages before allowing them to chat to others will prevent adults from being able to freely interact with children they don’t know.
While the process is optional, refusing to do it means a person will no longer have access to the platform’s chat functions, one of the key reasons most people use Roblox.
To verify their ages, people are asked to take a short video using their device’s camera, which is processed by a company called Persona that estimates their age. Alternatively, users can upload a government-issued photo ID if they are 13 or older.
Roblox says all personal information is “deleted immediately after processing.” However many users online say they are unwilling to conduct age verification over privacy concerns.
Peope who have verified their ages are only allowed to chat to a small group of other players around their own age. For example, those verified as under 9 can only chat with players up to the age of 13. Players deemed to be 16 can chat with players between 13 and 20.
The company initially rolled out the AI-powered age verification system in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands in November, but this week Roblox revealed that just half of all players verified their ages using the system.
In the days since the update was rolled out globally, players and developers have flooded forums, Reddit, and social media platforms like X and TikTok with complaints about the system.
WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts from players and parents claiming that the system has misidentified players’ ages.
One Roblox user, who says they are 23 but were misidentified as a 16- to 17-year-old, wrote on X, “I don't want to be chatting with fucking children.” Another alleged they are 18 but Roblox “still thought I was 13 to 15.”
In response, another X poster wrote: “I have a full-ass beard and it put my alt on a 13-16 age range.”
Others said the age verification system had placed young children in the adult category, with one person on X claiming that their 10-year-old sibling had been placed in the over-18 category.
Players have also shared videos showing how people have tricked the system to get verified without sharing their real faces, instead using avatars or, in one case, a photo of deceased Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. In one widely shared clip, a young boy who has drawn wrinkles and stubble on his face with black marker is given an age rating of 21+ by the system.
“I've seen a variety of posts online with suggestions for tricking the age verification system, but I think the most widespread danger is the large number of accounts that have been mistakenly filed into the wrong age category, and the new challenges for parents and in-game moderators to see if children are being exploited in the chat,” says Ry Terran, an independent extremism researcher who closely tracks networks that have been exploiting Roblox to target young children.
Roblox has said it will randomly recheck people’s age if they suspect they have made an error.
“Roblox may periodically recheck users’ age if fraud is suspected or take appropriate action if there we see signs of potential age misrepresentation,” the company wrote. ”As part of our ongoing investment in safety, we will also be developing and improving detection for such behavior.”
The company did not explain how this rechecking would happen or if users would be notified.
Roblox’s official developer forum has been flooded with thousands of negative comments about the updates, with the vast majority calling for the update to be reversed and for Roblox to listen to its users.
Many developers also shared how chat activity on their games had fallen off a cliff since the update, with one developer showing how the number of players who used the text chat function had dropped from an average of 85 percent to 36 percent.
Some users described the experience of playing games on the platform since the update as “lifeless” and “a total ghost town.” “It just feels dead,” one TikTok user said. Other users have been protesting the changes in Roblox itself.
“Why are we still pushing this change?,” one developer wrote in response to Roblox’s response to criticism of the rollout. “Nobody wants this godawful change and it is only harming your core userbase instead of providing any safety. Roblox is inherently a social platform and these recent changes have pushed us into a future of no privacy and censorship rather than communication and … playing fun games.”
Update: 1/13/2026, 2:10 PM EDT: WIRED updated the article with a post publication comment from Roblox.