Technologies

Roblox and its Generative AI: How Game Creation, and the Metaverse, May Be Changing

Two new creative tools are the start of possibly a lot more.

The world’s biggest metaverse may, arguably, be Roblox. The platform my kids play almost daily is a continuous playground of increasingly evolving experiences with a vast marketplace. It’s also going to become a space where generative AI emerges. Roblox released two new AI tools in the past week, but both are only showing up in the creator-focused Roblox Studio: a coding tool that lets anyone use conversational AI to generate code on the fly; and a way to create material designs just by describing what you want.

I watched demos of the new Roblox tools in action, and they’re very much in line with what generative AI tools like Midjourney, DALL-E 2 and ChatGPT can already do, as Microsoft and Google have expanded these tools elsewhere. In the case of Roblox, however, these tools are focused on particular uses. Both of the tools are also, for the moment, separate from each other and trained differently.

Beyond conversational AI and rapidly evolving art tools, it’s the way AI is moving into being a copilot for coding that grabs me the most. I don’t know how to code, and I’ve often found game creation tools, even ones like Sony’s Dreams on PlayStation, to be intimidating. It looks very much like this emerging wave of AI is turning into a coding assistant… I’d hesitate to say complete coding tool, because it sounds like you’d very much want to see what errors and results come from whatever you think you’ve discussed into being. But much more so than in any other capacity, it looks like a way to quickly enable complicated creations.

Stefano Corazza, former VP of Adobe’s Augmented Reality division and now head of Roblox Studio, says Roblox’s new AI features are targeted at «someone who is familiar with coding, and we just want to make them more productive.» But another initiative is coming for complete creative newcomers, too.

«We also have a parallel effort to help people that are completely new to coding,» Corazza says. «But if you are targeting people that are completely new to coding, we may need a different type of interface like ChatGPT that are a little bit more useful, because they explain to you what the code does, and then they write the code, and then they help you debug things. So I think we will have to think about an approach where the goal is learning, as opposed to writing a bunch of code.»

I’m curious about when these tools will emerge in the everyday Roblox app. There are already developers hooking in ChatGPT into Roblox now, but Roblox aims to eventually have some of these creative tools come outside of Studio.

«I think generative AI is really easier onboarding in the game development space overall, where people are less sophisticated in terms of, ‘Hey, I need something that gives me like, the Absolute Truth,’ right? It’s more of an iterative process,» Corazza says.

A hole in a brick wall and a building seen through it, in the video game platform Roblox — Is Roblox readying its platform to be able to more spontaneously generate worlds?

Roblox

Someday, players may have these generative AI tools right inside Roblox. And along with that future possibility comes parental guidance concerns.

«In the future as this becomes a superpower of players, we will have to implement more real-time moderation. It also needs to be not only age appropriate, but also context appropriate. Things that you may say with your close group of friends may not be OK in a public setting, for example, or during a concert on Roblox. We are trying to develop a more contextual type of moderation because we think that will be a big deal in the future,» Corazza adds.

Coding and creation is the focus now, but what I see after that is how these quick AI assistants can generate environments on the fly for metaverse environments. The «build and someone will come» idea behind large social VR worlds like Meta’s Horizon Worlds and AltSpace VR haven’t worked. Will more instantaneous AI-driven invocations be a way to make future AR and VR feel like an instant holodeck?

«I think what we have seen is a transformation where a lot of the strictly technical skills will be picked up by AI, and then it will leave creators more high-level controls,» Corazza says. «We will enable a lot more people to just manifest their ideas in the metaverse.»

Corazza refers to Roblox’s own metaverse, and its hundreds of millions of users, as an example. «Until now, just the scale of content that was needed was not met,» Corazza says, referring to metaverse platforms. «Very few companies in the world could actually afford it. If we lower the barrier, and now everybody can generate a city by just saying ‘create the city of San Francisco, it’s sunset and it’s raining,’ and poof, you see the city in front of you, the cost of creation gets really low, then people can start doing really fun things and can experiment.»

Roblox isn’t actively in VR and AR yet, although Corazza says the company’s exploring many different types of platforms. But it’s pretty clear that these beginning steps for generative AI in 3D worlds are going to make a big impact on the metaverse, VR and AR soon enough.

«VR was always starving for content, right? It was like, a great game was made, and then it’s like, ‘OK, try to make an experience, you know, good luck.’ That has been a very difficult process. There was one inflection with user-generated content that was really powerful, and then the second inflection point, now that we are seeing with generative AI, is going to be another order of magnitude of how much content is available,» Corazza adds. «Even things like VR and AR will flourish, will really have like a second wave. Because now people can do stuff in those worlds and they can be much faster. I think that’s going to be a big game-changer.»

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for July 5, #489

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 5, No. 489.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

The theme of today’s NYT Strands puzzle isn’t terribly tough, but at least one of the words is unusual and really, really long to unscramble. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Every second counts.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Does anybody really know what time it is?

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

DIAL, SOLE, MOLE, MOLES, SHAKE, CHEEP, ROLE, HOME, LOCK, MEAT, TAME, TAMES, ROLES, ROON, TRON

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

CLOCK, WATCH, SUNDIAL, HOURGLASS, CHRONOMETER

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is TIMEKEEPERS. To find it, look for the T that’s four letters down on the far left, and wind across.

Technologies

Microsoft Is Eliminating Passwords in August: Here’s What You Need to Do to Prepare

Microsoft Authenticator has already stopped autofilling passwords, but the biggest change comes next month.

In June, Microsoft Authenticator stopped letting users create new passwords. In July, it turned off the autofill password function. And in August, the login app will stop supporting passwords entirely, moving to more secure passkeys, such as a PIN, fingerprint or facial recognition.

Attila Tomaschek, CNET’s software senior writer and digital security expert, says that passkeys are a safer alternative to the risky password habits practiced by 49% of US adults, according to a recent survey by CNET.

«Passwords can be cracked, whereas passkeys need both the public and the locally stored private key to authenticate users, which can help mitigate risks like falling victim to phishing and brute-force or credential-stuffing attacks,» Tomaschek said.

Using the same password for several accounts or adding personal hints can be a convenient way to remember your login. But that puts you at a big risk for scammers, identity theft and fraud. Here’s more on Microsoft’s plan for eliminating passwords and how to make the switch to passkeys before August.

When will Microsoft Authenticator stop supporting passwords?

Microsoft Authenticator houses your passwords and lets you sign into all your Microsoft accounts using a PIN, facial recognition like Windows Hello, or other biometric data like a fingerprint. Authenticator can be used in other ways, such as verifying you’re logging in if you forgot your password, or using two-factor authentication as an extra layer of security for your accounts. In June, the company stopped letting users add passwords to Authenticator, but here’s a timeline of other changes you can expect from Microsoft.

July 2025: You won’t be able to use the autofill password function.
August 2025: You’ll no longer be able to use saved passwords.

If you still want to use passwords instead of passkeys, you can store them in Microsoft Edge. However, CNET experts recommend adopting passkeys during this transition. «Passkeys use public key cryptography to authenticate users, rather than relying on users themselves creating their own (often weak or reused) passwords to access their online accounts,» Tomaschek said.

Why are passkeys a better alternative to passwords?

So what exactly is a passkey? It’s a credential created by the Fast Identity Online Alliance that uses biometric data or a PIN to verify your identity and access your account. Think about using your fingerprint or Face ID to log into your account. That’s generally safer than using a password that is easy to guess or susceptible to a phishing attack.

Passkeys aren’t stored on servers like passwords. Instead, they’re stored only on your personal device. More conveniently, this takes the guesswork out of remembering your passwords and the need for a password manager.

How to set up a passkey in Microsoft Authenticator

Microsoft said in a May 1 blog post that it will automatically detect the best passkey to set up and make that your default sign-in option. «If you have a password and ‘one-time code’ set up on your account, we’ll prompt you to sign in with your one-time code instead of your password. After you’re signed in, you’ll be prompted to enroll a passkey. Then the next time you sign in, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your passkey,» according to the blog post.

To set up a new passkey, open your Authenticator app on your phone. Tap on your account and select «Set up a passkey.» You’ll be prompted to log in with your existing credentials. After you’re logged in, you can set up the passkey.

Technologies

The AI Chatbots We Use Most, and How We Use Them

91% of AI users have a default artificial intelligence assistant they turn to for their AI tasks, a Menlo Ventures report has found.

If you have a particular artificial intelligence tool that you tend to try first every time you’re in need of an AI assist, you’re not alone. According to a new survey, 91% of people who use AI have a favorite chatbot they try first, whether it’s ChatGPT, Gemini, Alexa or something else.

A Menlo Ventures survey of 5,000 adults found that this «default tool dynamic» means most people using AI have chosen a general AI tool they’ll try first for every job, even if it’s not necessarily the best tool for the job.

In the report, ChatGPT is the AI assistant that tops default tools, with 28% of respondents choosing it first. It’s followed by Google’s Gemini at 23%, Meta AI and Amazon’s Alexa, both at 18% and Apple’s Siri at 16%. Other tools including Claude, Grok and Perplexity collectively make up another 33%.

Some of the most common ways people are using these AI tools include composing emails and other writing support, researching topics of interest and managing to-do lists, according to Menlo Ventures.

Some of that, Menlo Ventures says, is «first-mover advantage,» with tools like ChatGPT having built up a following by being the first to offer some chatbot and image-generation features. But, the company warns, «that position is not guaranteed,» with challengers moving fast.

«The consumer market for [large language models] is still nascent and far from saturated,» the report says, «leaving ample room for product innovation to shift market share over time.»

Overall, 61% of Americans have used AI in the last six months and nearly 1 in 5, 19%, rely on it daily, the report says.