Roblox Corporation, the company behind the popular online game platform Roblox, announced today that age verification will now be required for any users wishing to use in-game chat in all regions where the feature is available. This comes after mounting pressure to protect underage players and lawsuits from multiple state attorneys general like Louisiana and Texas.

Starting January 7, players in the US and abroad will need to submit to facial age estimation via a selfie. Users 13 years of age or older may opt for ID-based checks. These features were given a trial rollout late last year in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where Roblox says half of the daily active users have already completed verification. The company says facial estimation is done via its third-party vendor Persona and that images are deleted immediately after processing. Age verification remains optional to play the game itself and is only required to use chat for now.

Once a player's age is verified, they will be placed in one of six age groups, the youngest being under 9, and the oldest being 21+. Players in these groups can only chat with their own group, as well as age groups directly below and above theirs. Roblox says players who are 13 or older can still chat more freely with players beyond their immediate age group by using the "Trusted Connections" feature within Roblox. This feature is intended for friends imported via a user's phone, or contacts added by QR codes shared outside of Roblox. Age verification is still required by both parties to use this feature.

Players under 9 years old will have chat turned off by default unless a parent approves its use after age verification. Roblox says it may ask users to resubmit verification if their behavior suggests they are substantially older or younger than they claimed.

Roblox has faced repeated accusations that it was not doing enough to protect younger players. In 2024, the company banned players under 13 from accessing certain types of in-game content, as well as restricting their ability to direct message with other players outside of specific games. Last year the company cracked down on user-created content, after a lawsuit from the state of Louisiana alleged some disturbing in-game "experiences" that minors may have been exposed to.

Bee, the company behind an always-listening AI wearable that Amazon acquired last year, has announced new features in a status update. The device is designed to run in the background of daily life and captures conversations or thoughts spoken aloud. Recording can be started or stopped with the push of a button.

Co-founder of Bee, Maria de Lourdes Zollo, says the company has shipped four major updates that will run on the existing Bee Pioneer hardware. The first is “Actions,” which connects Bee to a user's email and calendar and works to turn spoken commitments into actions. The company says that when you say you need to send an e-mail, for instance, Bee can draft one for you.

“Daily Insights” is designed to identify patterns and trends based on information collected over weeks or months. The company says the goal of this feature is to notice things before a user might, including "shifts in your relationships" and recommend personalized goals related to these, like a life coach of sorts.

“Voice Notes” lets a user press the record button on Bee and log a fleeting thought, a task for a to-do list or anything else that a user wants to recall later. Finally, "Templates" is designed to organize and summarize large amounts of information into a more digestible format. It can also create a study plan from a lecture or recap a sales meeting with a client.

Most of these features would presumably be more useful if a user sets their Bee to record constantly, which raises questions around legality and privacy. Zollo says that Bee processes audio in real time so no audio is ever stored, adding that neither Bee nor Amazon ever have access to transcripts. Still, the wearable could come up against recording consent laws which vary by jurisdiction.