Roblox CEO thinks adding gambling is "a brilliant idea" and calls its predator problem "an opportunity"

As a journalist, you know if an interview is going well or not. I've had stinkers - usually the ones where you're asking awkward questions that the interviewee would prefer not to answer, prompting them to deflect with varying success. But none have been as wild as the New York Times' Hard Fork podcast, where hosts Casey Newton and Kevin Roose sat down with Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki to discuss the platform's new age-verification policy.

Not only does Baszucki get audibly frustrated by the line of questioning he was briefed on, but he also leads the hosts on some interesting tangents about AI moderation and his excitement about the prospect of introducing gambling to Roblox. Yes, really.

Roblox may be one of the biggest, most popular gaming platforms around, but it's not without its problems. Newton kicks off the interview by asking about the platform's ongoing issues with child predators.

For those who don't know, Roblox is currently facing a lawsuit in Texas for "putting pixel pedophiles and profits over the safety of Texas children," and has been accused of similar transgressions in the past. This comes shortly after watchdog group Common Sense Media said that children are vulnerable to inappropriate content on the platform, including sexual, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic images or games. Reports also suggest that it is adding virtual dating features for over-21s.

But Baszucki sees it differently. "We think of it not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well," he says on the podcast. "How do we allow young people to build, communicate, and hang out together?"

He does eventually get around to Roblox's progress on moderation, and he explains that the platform will use AI to moderate text, as well as facial age estimation (also AI-based) to guess users' ages. This will work in conjunction with Roblox's existing checks, which take the form of behavioral signals, photo ID upload signals, and user-suggested age. Baszucki also notes that the platform has "very, very good text filters" and the fact it doesn't allow image sharing helps keep children safe.

One major problem is older players bypassing filters through codes, and encouraging young players to migrate to other, unmoderated platforms like Discord. Therefore, Baszucki says that keeping Roblox players on Roblox is "one of the primary things" the company is trying to achieve.

He says the right things in this part, but never concedes that there is any problem with predators on Roblox. He even goes as far as to say "I think we're doing an incredible job at innovating relative to the number of people on our platform and the hours, in really leaning into the future of how [moderation] is going to work," when asked directly whether Roblox has a problem with predators.

From my perspective, if even one child has encountered inappropriate content on a platform, it's too many. Baszucki, however, deflects and brags about vague innovations. But the interview only gets weirder from here.

Next, the Roblox CEO brags about "getting calls from famous parents" who tell him that their kids would be dead if it weren't for Roblox. He keeps saying "high-five" to the interviewer when being asked about automating moderation. At one point, he gets audibly frustrated to the point that Newton says "I can tell you're getting a little bit frustrated here."

Baszucki says that he thought the interview was going to be about "fun, funny things in the industry" rather than the "superfocus" on child safety. At other times, he points to some of the best Roblox games like Steal a Brainrot, clearly wanting to steer the conversation in a more positive direction.

Strangest of all, however, is when he brings up Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market that takes bets on various political and newsworthy markets. At the time of writing, users are gambling on whether Russia and Ukraine will reach a ceasefire this year, whether Trump will release the Epstein files, and the number of tweets posted by Elon Musk this week.

After an aside about Polymarket's accuracy during the election, the podcast hosts jokingly ask whether Baszucki would put a prediction market inside Roblox. To their surprise, he loves the idea. "It sounds very fun and obvious; I love that," he says, before Roose clarifies that he thinks it's actually a "horrible idea."

Baszucki acknowledges that every country has "different legislation around loot boxes and kid gambling," but believes that "it's a brilliant idea if it can be done in an educational way that's legal." I honestly have no words.

Finally, Baszucki summarizes by saying "Roblox is an amazing platform right now for your kid." But he would say that. He's the CEO.