Roblox introduces real-time AI chat rephrasing to block banned language

Roblox is launching a real-time, AI-powered chat rephrasing feature that automatically replaces banned words with more respectful language, the company announced on Thursday.

The new tool goes further than Roblox’s existing text filter, which currently replaces banned words and phrases with the “#” symbol. Roblox says that when users see strings of “####,” it can interrupt the flow of conversation and make chats more difficult to understand.

With the new system, instead of showing only hash marks, the filtered text will be rewritten into more respectful wording that stays close to what the user originally meant.

For instance, a message like “Hurry TF up!” would previously have appeared as “####,” but under the new feature, it will now be rewritten as “Hurry up!” Roblox will inform everyone in the chat that the message has been rephrased to help keep the conversation civil.

“Chat is central to how people connect, coordinate, and play on Roblox,” Rajiv Bhatia, vice president of User and Discovery Product at Roblox, said in a press release. “Real-time rephrasing helps keep gameplay and conversations on track while guiding language toward what’s appropriate. This approach reduces friction in chat while maintaining the standards that help keep our community civil.”

Roblox said that while rephrasing helps reduce some disruption in chats, the platform’s broader safety system will remain in place for more serious behaviour.

The feature is being supported across all languages currently available through Roblox’s automatic translation tools.

The company is also enhancing its text-filtering system to catch more variations of banned language. According to Roblox, early results suggest the system is improving at identifying leetspeak and more advanced attempts to get around filters. The company says this progress has helped reduce false negatives related to sharing or requesting personal information by 20x.

Thursday’s announcement comes not long after Roblox introduced mandatory facial verification for access to chats on its platform, following a wave of child safety lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and others. Those lawsuits were filed after reports alleged that Roblox had exposed younger users to serious risks, including grooming and explicit material.