AI chatbots can convincingly spit, though sometimes too sure — natural language answers, but what if an AI could build custom virtual worlds based on just a text description?
Roblox is exploring that possibility with its developer toolkit, which is designed to enable almost anyone to create virtual experiences and objects in the youth-focused virtual ecosystem.
The company says it’s testing two different implementations of generative AI, one that creates virtual materials based on a natural language message (the car textures in the video below) and another that can create code based on text input. Both will roll out to Roblox Studio developers in the coming weeks.
“…Some creators know how to code, but may have limited experience creating high-fidelity 3D models. Others may have more experience with model design, but less experience with code,” Roblox CTO Daniel Sturman wrote in a blog post. “In both cases, we see a future where even a beginner (like me, for example, I’m a terrible artist!) can get a head start as he seeks to bring his imagination to life in a Roblox experience.”
In recent years, the company has articulated its goal of becoming the infrastructure for the metaverse—not just the place where people go to hang out in virtual worlds, but the set of tools they use to build those worlds, to begin. Roblox certainly has some competition (Epic Games, to name one), but AI-based tools like this could make it an even more attractive platform for novice game developers to build the hit virtual spaces that make Roblox so sticky. with young users.
