Roblox CEO Dave Baszuki recently appeared on The New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast to talk about the platform’s new age verification feature. However, he quickly grew frustrated with the focus on child safety questions.
During the interview, Baszuki explained that the new feature will require users to submit a face scan to access Roblox’s messaging options. But when the conversation shifted to a report suggesting that the company prioritized growth over safety, Baszuki’s patience seemed to wear thin. He remarked, “Fun. Let’s keep going down this.”
Co-host Kevin Roose suggested that enhancing AI models could significantly improve child safety on Roblox, to which Baszuki replied, “Good, so you’re aligning with what we did. High-five.”
He also expressed his enthusiasm for being on the podcast, saying, “I came here because I love your podcast and came to talk about everything. So if our PR people said, ‘Let’s talk about age-gating for an hour,’ I’m up for it, but I love your pod. I thought I came here to talk about everything.”
