(Credit: Shutterstock/Cassiano Correia.)
Roblox has launched a new in-game text chat feature that automatically translates text from 15 languages into a player's preferred language, CTO Daniel Sturman announced Monday.
The new feature taps a custom-built AI large language model (LLM) that translates text inputs in just 100 milliseconds. Sturman says Roblox's translation LLM can handle Roblox-specific slang as well as abbreviations, like "AFK" (away from keyboard) or "obby" (obstacle course) without getting tripped up.
Players will now see a message that "Roblox automatically translates supported languages" above its in-game chat box feature across its numerous 3D worlds, according to an image in the announcement. Users will also be able to click to see the original language text if desired.
Translation between any combination of languages is fully supported, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, to name a few.
Instead of building separate AI translators for each language pair, Roblox created a single model that can handle any combination, which allows it to handle text inputs with multiple different languages at once.
Roblox used "available open source data" as well as its own translation data to train its new chat LLM, Sturman said. The company also plans to evaluate its translations for quality over time and add a feedback tool that will allow players to share their thoughts.
Roblox, which saw over 70 million daily active as of November 2023, plans to "double down" on generative AI tool development this year.
The company is also actively looking into automatic voice chat translations, which would allow players to receive real-time translations of other spoken voices. "While this may sound like science fiction today, and it will take some time to achieve, we will continue to push forward on translation," Sturman said.
Roblox's latest AI tool comes a few months after it announced its AI-powered Roblox Assistant, an accessibility and creator tool that allows users to build in-game content by typing text prompts on the platform.